


The Boy Next Door

by emb617



Category: Chris Evans - Fandom, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Anxiety, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Masturbation, References to Depression, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 100,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emb617/pseuds/emb617
Summary: Quarantine has been hard on Emily, being apart from her students, and living alone with only her dog Max. She’s a fifth grade science teacher that was just told school will be closed until May 4th, at least. As she grapples with her new norm, her favorite neighbor Lisa Evans introduces her to her son that’s come to spend quarantine with her. Can she be socially distanced from the boy next door?
Relationships: Chris Evans (Actor) & Original Female Character(s), Chris Evans (Actor)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 126
Kudos: 201





	1. Chapter 1

I placed my laptop on the arm of my long brown, leather couch and went to the kitchen to get my breakfast. It’s nine in the morning, and I sigh. On a regular day, I would be in my classroom with my students that annoyed me but I love so dearly. Today however, is a much different day.

It’s been two weeks since the start of social distancing, or “quarantine” as everyone had dubbed it. After the deadly coronavirus made its way to the United States and people were dying all over the globe, governors from all over decided that they needed to close down their state in order to stop the spread. One of the first things that closed was schools. And boy was I really upset about that.

I’m a 5th grade science teacher. I love my job so much. When I was younger, I always said that I wanted to be a teacher. I can’t remember a time when I didn't want to be a teacher. And science has always fascinated me, so it felt like the best of both worlds when I chose a major in Science with a minor in Secondary Education.

I was licensed to teach all grades, but I fell in love with middle school instantly. I have been at my job for ten years, and it’s the only teaching job I’ve ever had. Middle schoolers can be rough but they tell you like it is. I have always felt that they need the most love and guidance and I only hope that I am inspiring them everyday.

I bent down slightly to open the large wooden cabinet underneath my counter. As I grabbed my blender, I heard the clacking of my dog’s nails on the wooden floors. Max is a beautiful black, white, and gold Australian Shepherd with gorgeous blue eyes. I got him from the shelter when I bought my house a few years ago. It was the first thing I knew I wanted and boy am I glad to have him now. If I thought I was lonely before, I don’t think I could survive quarantine living alone and without him.

Max sits down right next to me as I pull my smoothie mix from the freezer. This has been our daily routine for the last two weeks. I wake up, make a smoothie, I post the daily assignment for my students, we go for a walk, then come home and answer the endless amount of emails and questions with the occasional zoom class thrown in, depending on the day.

I opened the fridge to grab the milk while putting the frozen mix back into the freezer. Walking back over to the blender on the counter, I almost trip over Max who is panting, and looking up at me with his wide eyes, ready for our daily routine.

“Yes Maxy, we will go out. You know the deal, smoothie first,” I said in a baby voice while I patted the top of his head. I poured the milk into my blender and walked that back over to the fridge. I grabbed a treat from Max’s treat bowl, and bent down towards him. “Sit,” I commanded and Max immediately did as he was told. “Good boy,” I praised, smiling, while scratching the back of his left ear. Yes, I know that I should have been feeding him breakfast before his treat but he hits me with those sad eyes and I just can’t resist. Besides, he works up an appetite on our walks so even if I fed him before, he wouldn’t eat it until we got back from our walk.

I walked over to the blender and screwed down the cap, turning the nutribullet over in order to blend together my strawberry banana smoothie. Max barked and I gave him a stern look to stop. “Max,” I said sternly, drawing out the a in his name so he knew that I meant business. He ran over to the couch and hopped up onto it because after a two week cycle, he knows that the couch is my next stop.

After washing the blade to the blender and putting it in the drying rack next to my sink, I grabbed a reusable straw and plopped it into my smoothie. I clasped my mouth around the straw and the cold of the smoothie hit my tongue as I sat down on the couch ready to post my lesson for the day.

I opened my laptop and logged into Google Classroom and my email, seeing a few emails from my students that I missed yesterday. I try to keep the same working hours everyday for my own sanity, but my students do not. One of the emails was sent at 11:51 pm.

After answering the few emails that I received, I turned my attention over to my Google Classroom to post the assignment. Our district leaders have been telling us that we shouldn’t be posting new assignments for the students, it should be a review of things they have already learned. So for this week, my students were going to create their own water cycles using containers, dirt, grass, and water. Each day I am going to give them questions to answer where they will report their findings and send a picture of how their water cycle is doing.

Distance learning is not something that I was cut out for. And it’s even worse for my students. I have about 35% of students completing all their assignments, but there is about 20% of students that haven’t even logged on yet. I have been sending emails and calling, but nothing has been working. I couldn’t even imagine what it’s like to be a kid right now. I probably wouldn’t be longing on to do my school work either. I just want to make sure they are okay.

After closing my laptop with a sigh, I look over to Max who snaps his eyes up to mine. “Do you wanna go….. for a walk?” I said in a high pitched voice with a smile. Max immediately jumped from the couch and ran over to the front door. I like to say that I trained him well, but really it was the puppy school I sent him to that I was so grateful for. He immediately sat on the floor right by the door so that I could hook his leash on. After sliding into my white crocs and grabbing Max’s poop bags, I locked up the house and we were on our way.

It was a dewy morning in Concord, but it was just as lovely as ever. The March air was a little chilly, but nice enough for a sweatshirt or a light jacket. This was my favorite type of weather. I loved seeing the pavement a little wet from the night before, that rain chill still in the air.

Just as Max stopped to sniff and relieve himself for the first time, I saw my neighbor, Lisa Evans, walking out of her house with a cup of tea and throwing me a wave. “Good morning, Emily!”

“Hi Lisa!” I waved back.

Lisa Evans was by far my favorite neighbor. When I moved into the neighborhood, she immediately introduced herself, invited me over for tea and banana bread. While I don’t end up at her house very often anymore, we would always have chats when I would take Max on a walk and she was outside enjoying the weather, and now that has become a daily occurrence.

“What’s the science project for this week?” She asked as I watched Max sniff towards the rocks at the end of her driveway.

“Creating water cycles in a jar!” I said enthusiastically. I couldn’t help but be a nerd about science, and teaching it. Even though distance learning was slowly killing me, I was trying to put as much fun into it as I possibly could.

“I thought water cycles was last week?” She frowned, looking confused.

“Yeah, but we can’t post any new materials and water cycles and getting dirty is just so much fun,” I laughed.

“Ah, I see,” she nodded her head and took a sip of her tea. I started to walk away as Max was pulling me, getting antsy. He knows that I always stop to talk with Lisa but that doesn’t mean he likes it. I watched as a car pulled into the driveway and Max started barking at it.

“Max, stop,” I chastised. “This isn’t even your house crazy man.”

“Oh, that’s my son! He lives in California sometimes but he came down to spend quarantine with us in Massachusetts.”

“Oh cool,” I said intrigued. I knew Lisa had four children, and I have already met Carly, Shanna, and Scott so I was curious to meet this fourth child because I absolutely adored her entire family.

Max continued barking as the driver side door of the car opened and a bearded man with sunglasses stepped out. He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket with white sneakers adorned on his feet. His muscles pulled against his shirt as he stood up and closed the door, and I couldn’t help think to myself that his jacket was about two sizes too small. Each of his biceps was visible through the jacket material.

He ran a hand through his perfectly combed hair as he stepped out of his vehicle and ran around to the passenger side. Realization as to why Max was barking hit me as a tan, furry, four-legged friend jumped out of the car on a leash.

“Hi ma!” The man yelled to Lisa as he trailed the dog up to her to hold his leash while he returned to the car.

“Hi Chris!” Lisa said and then turned her attention towards me. “Emily, this is my son, Chris. Chris, this is my neighbor, Emily.”

He poked his head out of the trunk as he pulled out a suitcase and a duffle bag. “Oh, hi!” He said as he looked in my direction. He put the suitcase down and leaned towards me offering a hand. I just looked at it and then looked away. “Oh, right. Social distancing. Well just know that I would have shook your hand,” he trailed off with a little laugh. He tore his sunglasses from his face and I was met with the bluest eyes I think I had ever seen, and a face that looked familiar to me. “I’m Chris.”

“Emily,” I said with a nod and he looked down to the dog who was now sitting at my feet. “And this is Max.”

“Oh hi buddy,” Chris said in the same high pitched voice that I use for my dog. He leaned down towards him and Max started to sniff his way to him. I let go of the leash a little so that he could get his head scratched by Chris only to hear a slight growl coming from where Lisa was standing. “Oh Dodge, you don’t need to be all jealous,” Chris rolled his eyes. “That’s Dodger. He’s territorial over me.” He stood back up and closed the trunk of his car.

“Well, nice to meet you!” I said as Max pulled me to continue his walk. “See you later Lisa!”

“Nice to meet you too!” Chris yelled back as he hugged his mom and walked in the house with her. I heard Lisa send me a goodbye before the door closed behind them.

As I walked Max around the neighborhood I thought about where I had seen those blue eyes before and why they looked so familiar to me. I was getting more frustrated with myself that I couldn’t place it when I was pulled backwards a bit by the leash because Max had stopped to smell something and I wasn’t paying attention.

“Oops, sorry Maxy boy.” I stopped with him so he could smell the grass before immediately getting back on the pavement and continuing our walk. As I made my way back towards my house, I could see that Lisa and Chris were both sitting on the porch with mugs in their hands when it dawned on me where I knew Chris from.

I quickly tore my phone from my back pocket, doing a quick google search when Max started his way up our driveway. “Yes!” I said to myself and walked closer to Lisa’s house.

“Hi Emily!” Lisa waved as she saw me.

“Hi, um,” I immediately felt nervous because Chris was staring at me and I’m sure he got creepy fangirls all the time but I couldn’t not have him in front of me without telling him what I thought of his work. “So I don’t mean for this to sound creepy…” I started and the two of them looked up at me with confused looks. As soon as Chris’s eyes met mine, it seemed like he knew what I was going to say after this. Great, I did look like a creepy fangirl. “But are you an actor? Because you look like the actor in _Before We Go_ , and I just really loved that movie. I mean the directing of that was perfect, it was so heartbreakingly beautiful. I think I’ve watched it like 70 times.” I closed my eyes immediately after I said that because I realized how creepy it actually sounded. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry,” I said, turning my back to them to leave.

I heard Lisa laugh and Chris let out an, “Oh.”

I turned back around to look at the two of them who were looking at each other.

“Thank you. That actually means a lot, but that’s not usually what I’m recognized for,” he said.

I stood, staring at him confused. I searched his face to see if I could find what else I had known him from but because that was my favorite movie, I couldn’t place his face in anything else. “Oh, anything I would know?”

Lisa almost looked shocked and I could tell that Chris was hiding in a laugh. They almost couldn’t believe that I hadn’t known him from somewhere else and I was confused as to what they were getting at.

“Nah, probably not,” he said with a shrug and a slight grin on his face.

“Oh well, sorry again. See you later Lisa!” I suddenly felt very embarrassed under his gaze. I watched him look down to the crocs I was wearing on my feet, all the way to the bun at the top of my head and back down again. 

I semi raced back to my house unlocking my doors and watching Max run to his water bowl, furiously lapping his water after his long walk.

I didn’t realize how fast my heart was beating until I sat down on the couch, grabbing my laptop and getting back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my very first story on here but I'm really excited! This has been really fun to write and I can't wait to update you all.


	2. Chapter 2

I had been so out of my element with my conversation with Chris and Lisa that I forgot to feed Max and didn’t realize it until I heard him bark and saw him sitting next to his food bowl. “Oops, sorry boy,” I said and immediately got up. I grabbed his food bowl and walked into the kitchen. I went into the pantry and grabbed out his kibble, opening it and pouring it into the bowl. He heard the noise and immediately went back to the spot in the living room where his bowl lived and chased his tail in a circle. I smiled at him as I walked towards him with a full food bowl. “Do you want breakfast?” I teased, shaking the bowl in my hand. I laughed when he started panting and looked up at me. I set the food bowl down and went back to the kitchen to clean up his food.

When I was finished, I went back to the couch and opened my laptop. Max was finished quickly and jumped back up on the couch to lay next to me. After answering the daily emails from my students, (Is this going to be counted for a grade? Yes. Do I have to do this? Yes. Can I just answer the questions? No. Do I have to send you a picture? Yes.) and sending several emails to parents and families that haven’t even logged into my class just to make sure that they were doing okay, I slumped back deeper into my couch and signed again. This felt eerily like a new normal. 

I let my eyes drift to my back door and looked outside letting my thoughts consume me. If I was having this hard of a time coping, I couldn’t imagine people who were less off than me, or those that were sick and in the hospital. 

Looking into the backyard, I saw a squirrel at the top of my bird feeder. Dang squirrel. I’d searched the web and tried all of the remedies on getting them out of my bird feeder. As I pulled up Google to again search for “squirrel proof bird feeder” my fingers started gently tapping on the keyboard as my eyes looked towards the house next to me.

My pointer finger landed on the “c” key and I was really tempted to type in my new neighbors name. I mean, I had probably looked up the casting information for _Before We Go_ more times than I could count but now this felt different. It felt like I was invading his personal space. Before I could let my fingers drop to the keys and search Chris Evans, I aborted that mission and returned to my original one. After researching for a bit, I ordered a wrap around baffle, which looks like a flying saucer that wraps around the pole that the squirrel can’t climb on.

“Take that squirrel,” I said, squinting my eyes as he continued to eat the bird feeder outside. Almost as if he could sense my thoughts, Max’s eyes shot towards the backyard and saw the squirrel that I had been looking at. He raced off his spot next to me on the couch and directly to the glass door, barking his head off along the way. I rolled my eyes and yelled his name, “Max!” He sat down and let a small bark escape his mouth that continued into a low growl. “Max,” I sent out another warning to him telling him to stop. The low growl stopped as my phone dinged from the couch beside me.

I smiled as I checked it, showing me a notification with my two best friends checking in to make sure we were still having our traditional Monday night girls’ night. Because of the coronavirus, they were both living the unemployed life and after I told them that the hardest part was starting my week, we decided on weekly girls’ nights on Monday night. 

Tina and Ashlee were my best friends and had been for a long time. They met when they were in high school, and Tina and I met in college. We were college roommates. She was there for theatre, and we immediately bonded. During college, she introduced me to Ashlee and the three of us have been close ever since. Tina lived out in Western Mass while Ashlee lived a little closer, but we rarely got together anymore because our lives were so busy. I’d hate to say it but coronavirus has allowed us to catch up with each other more than we ever had.

I smiled at my phone background of Max sitting in the grass in my front yard with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and looking straight at the camera as my face unlocked my phone. A smile made its way to my face as I composed my message, _Guys I have some big news and I can’t wait to tell you. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT._ I pressed send and opened the weather app on my phone to see what the temperature was and if I could get outside for a bit with Max today. After displaying that it was going to be in the 50’s and sunny, and judging from our walk this morning, we could probably have some playtime outside after lunch. I nodded my head as my friends started replying to my cryptic text.

 _What kind of news could you possibly have? We’re all stuck in our houses?_ I laughed at Tina’s reply. She was having a really hard time being stuck at home with her boyfriend. She really liked her space and apparently he wasn’t giving it to her.

 _Josh sent you an email detailing his love for you FINALLY,_ was Ashlee’s reply. Okay, so there was this 5th grade math teacher at my school that I had my eye on for a really long time. He had muscles in all the right places, and soft, beautiful brown eyes, but he didn’t even hold a candle to my new neighbor, and besides he had a fianceé because of course, they all do.

 _Lol, you’re both wrong. I’m telling you, you’re never gonna believe me. But you’re gonna have to wait to find out! Talk to you later! 6pm, sharp!!_ I texted back to the group with a smile on my face. I wanted to see their reactions when I told them that a famous actor was my neighbor, so there was no way they were going to find out over text.

 _Bitch! See you then!_ I laughed at Tina’s response as I checked my email one more time. When I saw that there were no new messages and the time was 12:24, I decided it was a nice time to take a break for lunch and have some much needed time outside. 

I put together a turkey and cheese sandwich and grabbed some treats for Max and my Kindle and made my way to the back door. “C’mon, Maxy,” I said as I slid open the glass sliding door and stepped out into the patio. “Sit,” I commanded as Max did as he was told. I put my sandwich down on the brown wicker table and grabbed the lead that I put Max on when we were outside. It was just enough for him to stay within the bounds but far enough to let him explore off the deck a little. I didn’t have a fenced in yard, and while he was trained pretty well, he was a dog and liked to get into everything possible so I made sure to keep him close.

I took a seat at my table and took a bite out of my sandwich. I moved the other chair I had so that I could put my feet up and opened my Kindle which kept my place in my latest read. Ever since quarantine started, I have given myself a goal to read fifty books. I was currently on number thirteen which also happened to be the thirteenth romance novel I’ve read too. I just can’t help myself, I love love.

My most recent book is called Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey. It’s about a girl who wants to be a screenwriter and tries to find her own Tom Hanks and have a real meet-cute that turns into a romance. You know, the moment in the movie where the girl and the guy meet for the first time? Girl trips and boy catches her. Girl spills coffee on boy. Boy pretends to be girl’s boyfriend to get her away from a douchebag. I had dreams of having my own meet-cute someday.

As I get lost in the words, I start to think about the romances that I had in my life. I have had my fair share of flings but, my longest relationship was about a year which happened in my late twenties. His name was Kevin and he was a doctor. He was perfectly wonderful and we made plans for the future, but we just sort of fell apart from each other. The passion had fizzled out and it just didn’t feel right anymore. We both decided to end it, and we’re still friends. Well more like acquaintances, but there were no hard feelings. I even liked his Facebook post when he got married last year.

I continued reading when I heard Max bark. I tilted my head up towards the sky and opened my mouth in shock. I set my Kindle down on the table next to my sandwich and looked to chastise my dog. “Max, haven’t I taught you-” I started to say when the reason why he was barking caught my eye.

Chris’s dog, Dodger made his way outside and started to bark at Max as well. They were having a bark-off when Chris stepped outside onto Lisa’s deck with a beer in his hand. He had taken off his leather jacket and let his biceps show. Oh, shit. My eyes widened as I realized I was right, he was jacked. And if I could see that from all the way over here, I can just imagine what he looks like close up.

“Hey Emily,” Chris said and waved. Our dogs continued their barking fest and I got up to try and calm Max down.

“Hi,” I squeaked out. I was still a little nervous about our conversation before where I basically word vomited at him. I was also pretty nervous because he was a fucking Hollywood actor and he knew my name.

Dodger was on a leash and was trying to make his way over to say hi to Max. Max was doing the same and pulling me towards Dodger.

“Dodge, buddy, you can’t say hi to everyone,” Chris said as he pulled his leash so that Dodger would come back towards him.

“He can come say hi if that’s okay with you,” I said and shrugged. Max was pretty good with other dogs. “I think he might just continue barking if he doesn’t and I don’t think the neighbors would like that very much.”

Chris shrugged and set his beer down on the table that Lisa had on her back deck. I hooked Max off his lead and brought him closer so that he could say hi to Dodger. Chris did the same, and it looked like Dodger was really pulling him. Chris laughed at him the entire way. “Geesh, Dodge. Chill out.”

I laughed, “Wow. He has you wrapped around his finger, doesn’t he?”

“Hey are you making fun of my relationship with my dog?” he teased.

“Oh hell no. My dog literally sleeps on my bed. I am not one to judge how a person cares for their dog, just making an observation.” I bit down on my lip. I don’t know why I just offered that piece of information to him. I looked down to our dogs where they were sniffing at each other in greeting.

“So my mom tells me you’re a teacher?” He questioned. I looked back up to him and immediately regretted it. Listen, I can appreciate an attractive man when I want to. And Chris was attractive. He had short brown hair that seemed to be parted to one side, a beard and mustache that seemed to hide a chiseled jaw and those freaking muscles, I mean, c’mon.

“Oh yeah. Science,” I nodded. I looked back down to our dogs. That seemed like the only safe place to look right now because it would have seemed obvious that I was avoiding his stare if I looked anywhere else, and I certainly wasn’t going to look at his face.

“What grade?” He kneeled down to the ground so that he could pet both of the dogs. I started to think about the fact that neither of us had masks on and we were supposed to be wearing masks. I looked at our separation and there was probably a good four feet between us, and even though the magic number is six, I decided we were pretty safe.

“Fifth,” I said. This conversation was so awkward. I definitely had to apologize for what I said before because that’s definitely where my anxiety was coming from. The other problem was that he was now standing in my safe looking spot so I didn’t really have any choices left for where to place my eyes. “Listen, I am so sorry that I word vomited at you before, I just-” he cut me off with his laughter.

“Emily, no worries. I love talking about what I do. And I don’t really get recognized for that movie, especially directing it so it was kind of nice,” He was petting Max but smiling up at me. His eyes crinkled and I couldn’t tell if it was from the sun or his smile but it was quite endearing. My insides were definitely dancing around from his simple gesture. “You don’t have to keep apologizing.”

“Oh, okay…” I trailed off lamely. I opened my mouth to say that I was going to head back to my deck before he asked me another question.

“How’s teaching with all this going on?”

“Gosh, _rough_ ,” I emphasized with a slight laugh. “So many kids aren’t logging on, and I’ve never had so many emails in my life.” My eyes widened and I slightly shook my head. “I’m just nervous about some of them because I haven’t heard from them and I want to make sure they’re okay.”

“Yeah, it must be rough. I was just talking to my niece and nephews and they hate online school. I can’t imagine what teaching it must be like.”

“Yeah, it’s certainly challenging so I’m trying to have fun with it. I’ve been looking up science experiments with household objects, but I’m trying to find ones that don’t involve setting things on fire,” I said with a slight chuckle and Chris let out a loud laugh. His laugh was slightly higher pitched than his voice and you could hear every syllable clearly. I decided right then and there that if anything else, I would make Chris laugh for as long as I can.

“Yeah, that could get kinda dicey,” he said letting the laugh still escape him. “So what have you come up with?” He stood up now because our dogs had decided to lay next to each other, each of them looking towards their owner. It seemed like they were watching the conversation that we were having. I was kind of surprised because usually Max would be pulling me on to something else but he was laying down right next to Dodger.

“They’re creating mini water cycles, well ecosystems really, but they’re commenting on the water cycle that’s going to happen within it.”

“Very cool,” he nodded his head. “I wish I was into science in school. Maybe I would be if I had a cool teacher like you,” he said and looked at me with a smirk. I took that time to look into his eyes and boy was that a big mistake. His eyes seemed to be even more blue than the first time that I met him and he had a smile that could make anyone weak in the knees.

“Ha!” I let out a big laugh. “Just ask any one of my students and they will definitely tell you I am so not cool.” I shook my head and looked towards the ground again. I scratched the top of my head and realized that my bun was falling out. I took a quick second to take my elastic out of my hair and pile the bun back on top of my head.

“Aw, c’mon I doubt that.” He looked to me as if there was no way that was true.

“Oh no, it’s definitely true,” I nodded my head. “I have a big poster behind my desk that says, ‘I heard oxygen and magnesium were going out and I was like,’ and then it has the periodic table notation for oxygen and magnesium which spells out OMG. And I reference it. Often,” I laugh while saying it because saying it out loud definitely made me sound like a huge nerd, but Chris laughed out loud again which made me laugh louder.

“Oh my god, that’s great!” he said through his laughter. His right arm crossed his body to grab his chest as he laughed, which gave me a better view of the muscles on his arm. I don’t even know how somebody gets that many muscles. But I am definitely not complaining. I could deal with quarantine if I could stare at his muscles all day long.

As our laughter died down, Max started pulling me back towards the house. “Oh, well I guess that’s my cue to go. I’m sure the squirrels got my sandwich anyway.” I tried to look back towards my deck to see if my sandwich was still sitting there but I couldn’t tell.

“Good luck with your class. It sucks but I’m sure it’ll get easier,” he offered as he grabbed Dodger’s leash tighter in his hand and led him back towards his deck. “And if not, just kill them with bad puns,” he lets out a little chuckle while he says that.

“It’s definitely my life’s mission.” I looked down towards Max who stopped and looked back up to me. “What buddy?” I grabbed a treat from my pocket that I hadn’t given to him yet and gave it to him. “Good boy,” as we continued our way back to my porch.

“Oh hey!” I heard Chris say and turned around. He was already back on his deck with Dodger’s leash still in his hand. I turned around and raised an eyebrow, titling my chin towards him, waiting for what he was going to say. “My mom’s having a socially distant barbecue tomorrow cause she’s got all the family together. She said you could come if you want. We’ll wear masks and stay six feet apart.”

My hands started to sweat and I felt nervous and I wasn’t sure why. I had been quarantined by myself in my house for two weeks and I knew Lisa really well. Besides, the invitation was coming from Lisa and not him.

“Sure!” I said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. “Gonna be kinda hard to eat and wear a mask at the same time though, I’ll make sure I wear the one with a hole in it.” _Wow, Emily. How lame can you get?_ I thought to myself and shook my head, hoping he couldn’t see it from his vantage point.

He let out another laugh and said, “Great! Come on over tomorrow at five. Max is welcome too!” He grabbed his beer and opened Lisa’s back door, letting Dodger in to roam the house.

“Great, see you then!” He smiled and disappeared into his house and all I heard was the closing of the door. I let out a huge breath that I didn’t know I was holding in and looked towards Max.

“Max, I think he’s going to kill me.” Max barked at me as if he knew what I was saying and I laughed.

As I got back to my deck, I realized that I wasn’t hungry nor was I in the mood to read anymore. I picked up my sandwich which had a fly sitting on it, grabbed my Kindle and took Max off the lead, leaving it on the deck. I opened my sliding glass door and retreated back into my house.

When I got back into the house, I logged back into my Google Classroom on the computer and looked to see if I had any new emails or comments from my students. I had a few. They were mostly asking on the specifics of their water cycles. (Did the water have to come from outside or could it be from their sink? What kind of dirt did it have to be? Could they put sticks in it? Could they put worms in it? And one student just emailed to say hi.) I smiled. I really missed them.

I felt like I was in a daze because all of a sudden my stomach growled and I looked at the clock and realized it was 5:30. “Oh shit,” I said out loud. I looked next to me where Max was sitting realizing that I hadn’t had anything to eat since I had one bite of my sandwich at lunch time, I hadn’t fed Max dinner yet, and my girl’s night was happening in a half hour. I had been lost in emails, Google Classroom comments, and researching and creating the lessons for this week and even saving some experiments I wanted to try.

I closed my laptop and Max looked up at me. “Done for the day,” I said to him as I pat his head. I grabbed my laptop and plugged it in to charge. I needed my laptop for girls’ night but needed to let it charge for a bit because I had been using it all day.

My daily rituals continued as I grabbed Max’s food bowl and walked to the kitchen. Again, I took out his kibble and poured his dinner into the bowl. I put the kibble away and walked back to the living room, Max chased his tail in a circle and I placed down his food bowl. I also refilled his water bowl before putting his food away and starting on my own food.

I took the huge bowl of salad out of the fridge that I made yesterday to have for dinner this week and set it on the counter. I grabbed some grilled chicken, a fry pan and some olive oil and set those on the counter as well. As I threw some oil and the chicken into the pan, Max found his way back to my feet. I smiled down at him and blew him a kiss. He just looked away from me. 

After frying the chicken and placing it on my salad, I layered it in French dressing, grabbed a fork and made my way over to the couch. I looked to the clock and it read 5:48. I grabbed a fork full of salad and ate it. I left the fork in my mouth as I grabbed my laptop and pulled it into my lap. I entered my password and opened an internet tab so I could invite Tina and Ashlee to our girls’ night zoom. Since I had the most experience with zoom, I was in charge of the invitations.

I sent them their invites and went back to eating my salad. I put my laptop on the coffee table as I heard the sound of someone joining the zoom call.

“Bitch, what is your news? I’ve literally been waiting all day,” Ashlee says and I laughed. I continued to eat my salad and shrugged my shoulders. “You’re gonna make me wait for Tina?” I nodded. “She’s gonna take so long!” I shrugged again.

I took a break from eating so that I could look to her and laugh. “You literally must have been waiting by the computer. I’ve never seen you answer the zoom invitation faster.”

“Well when you have tea, I want to hear it!” I laughed again. I was so glad we had these weekly girls’ nights so that we could stay in touch. I really missed my friends.

Shortly after I took my last bite of salad, my computer dinged and the windows Ashlee and I were in moved to make accommodations for Tina to enter the call. “You better start with your news!” I laughed again.

“Imagine if it’s actually really shitty and I was just playing you.” I set my empty plate down next to my laptop and grabbed it so that it was on my lap.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Tina said and pointed at me, squinting her eyes. 

I smiled and sucked in my cheeks, suddenly nervous to tell them. “Alright, so,” I started. “Remember how I told you guys to watch _Before We Go_ cause it’s like my favorite movie? Even though I know you guys probably haven’t because you don’t like romcoms as much as me and you hate crying and apparently don’t have hearts?”

“Bitch, I watch romcoms!” Ashlee says. “I just know that I’m going to be forever alone and don’t want to pour more salt on the wound.” Tina and I laughed.

“Steve would rather watch science fiction or superhero movies, but I can’t say I blame him. They have everything! Action, romance, humor, it’s like the best of both worlds.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” I said rolling my eyes. “Anyways, you know my neighbor Lisa?” They both nodded their heads. “ _Well_ , her son that I have never met before came home from LA to spend quarantine with her and he’s the lead actor and director in _Before We Go_!” As I started to finish what I was saying, the speed of my words picked up. “My neighbor is a literal Hollywood actor. And he’s super nice too!”

“Ooh, what’s his name? What else has he been in?” Ashlee questioned. Tina looked like she had a puzzled look on her face and I couldn’t quite tell what she was thinking.

“His name is Chris Evans, and I’m not sure.” When I said that, Tina’s eyes opened wider than I’ve ever seen them and I furrowed my brow confused where her shock was coming from. “He said he’s not known usually for that movie, and I wanted to Google him but then I felt like I was invading his privacy or something.”

“Emily, oh shit,” Tina said and my eyes immediately went towards the small box that she was looking back at me in. “Chris Evans is Captain America.” Um, excuse me what?

“What?!” I practically yelled. It was so loud that Max woke up from his sleep and I put a hand on his back to pet him, telling him it was okay to go back to sleep.

“Yeah,” Tina said, sounding shocked herself. “Google him right now, he’s Captain America.”

I immediately opened another window and Googled his name. I was immediately met with a bunch of pictures of him, his Twitter, his wikipedia page and a few articles. On the right side, underneath his bio listed movies that he’s been in. _Captain America: The First Avenger. The Avengers. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Avengers: Endgame. Captain America: Civil War._

My mouth opened in shock and I quickly got rid of the Google page, going back to our zoom call. “Captain America is my neighbor?” I literally was in shock. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him from that. Of course I’ve seen the Avengers movies, how did I not put the pieces together? No wonder he said people don’t recognize him from Before We Go. It’s because he’s Captain America.

Suddenly as realization hits me, I barely hear the cheering and the words coming from my friend’s mouths. My heart is beating so fast and my eyes are looking all over the place. I don’t know what to do. Sexy Chris is Captain America? Captain America is my neighbor? What the _fuck_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and reads! I am having a blast writing and have so many ideas for where this is going to go! Leave me a comment on your thoughts or how you are liking the story! Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

I could feel fuzziness running through my brain as my mind landed back on my computer and my friends faces. “Emily, are you okay?” Tina said and kind of laughed.

“What the _fuck_?” I blurted out.

I wasn’t really sure how to wrap my brain around the fact that I now had a super famous neighbor. I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep my thoughts to myself and I would definitely blurt it out at him and probably scare him away.

“Dude, Captain America is your neighbor! You better jump _all_ over that. He’s hot as shit,” Tina said, giving me a knowing look.

“Ha!” I burst out in laughter. I watched Max as he got up, walked around in a circle and sat back down on the couch next to me, closer this time. I laughed again. “I’ve never seen so many muscles. Like how do you even get that many muscles. Holy crap,” I breathed out. I thought back to when we were in the backyard talking. I wasn’t thinking about his muscles but how his eyes lit up and his forehead scrunched together and how it was me that did that to him.

“I’m so jealous!” Ashlee screamed, leaning into her camera. “It would be nice to have some kind of eye candy during quarantine,” she huffed and pouted. While Ashlee was currently single, she had just gotten out of a five year long relationship with someone she thought she was going to marry. It was devastating for her and they had been living together for two years. So to not only be single but living alone during quarantine, I could tell that it was really hard for her.

“You can certainly have Steve,” Tina rolled her eyes. “I feel really bad because,” she stopped, trying to collect her thoughts. “I used to find the things that he does endearing and now most of them are annoying. And it’s like everywhere I turn, he’s there. I don’t know what to do.” She scrunched up her face, placed her elbow on the table in front of her that her laptop was sitting on and leaned her head on her hand. She let out a long sigh.

“Well quarantine is stressful, and you can’t get away from each other now. Why don’t you just set a specific time everyday that you guys get alone time. And like, legit alone time. In your own space, don’t text anyone,” I offered.

“Yeah, we could...” She trailed off and scratched the back of her head.

Tina, Ashlee and I continued talking for another hour and a half. I can truly say I have never laughed louder. It was so great to catch up with my friends, forget about the world for a while and laugh together.

After ending the call with a smile on my face, I shut my laptop and put it back on it’s charger so that it could recharge for my day tomorrow. I went into my kitchen and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge, opened it and pressed the bottle against my lips. Taking a sip and feeling the cold water drip all the way down my throat, Max must have heard me because he got up and padded his way over to me.

“You gotta go pee pee Maxy?” I said in my baby voice that I always used when I talked to him. He went over and used his nose to ring the bell that I have attached to the handle on the front door. That definitely took a lot of training to get him to ring the bell and connect it with the fact that I would take him outside. As soon as he did, he sat down and stared up at me. I grabbed his leash off the hook and attached it to his collar. Max started clawing against the door and pulling me outside after I opened it. “Oh sorry boy, you really gotta go!” 

We descended the front steps of my house as he sniffed around the yard and found a good spot to go. “Good boy,” I said as he started doing his business.

“Are you stalking me now?” I heard a voice call out from behind me. Before I could turn around towards Lisa’s house, I automatically knew whose voice that was and my hands immediately started sweating. Something I didn’t hear in his voice before was the slight Boston accent that had slipped out. A day back in his hometown probably brought that out of him.

“It’s fine, Emily,” I said under my breath. “He might be Captain America but he’s a normal person.” I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and turned around. I saw he also had his dog on a leash and Dodger was smelling around to do his business. I laughed, “I think our dogs are fucking with us.” He chuckled but raised his brow and tilted his head towards me. “They have some secret language so they can come say hi to each other. How do they speak through the walls?”

He let out a louder laugh this time as he walked with Dodger in my direction. “Hey, I’m all for it. Dodge is usually barking his head off at every other dog so at least they get along.”

I walked a bit towards him and watched as Max sniffed along the grass. He saw his new friend Dodger and started wagging his tail, pulling me towards him. I smiled at how excited they seemed to be at seeing each other. I looked up at Dodger’s owner and folded my hand to wipe my fingers against my palm because I felt them getting sweaty again. I wish that wasn’t my only response to nerves or anxiety.

“So, um, funny story…” I started, closing my eyes and scratching my brow. “I have a question.”

He put his left hand in his pocket and squared his shoulders so he was directly facing me. As I looked into his eyes I immediately felt heat rise to my cheeks and neck. I had to ask him about being Captain America because otherwise I would continue to be awkward as hell around him. “Shoot,” he said nodding his chin in my direction.

I started getting more nervous and launched into the story about having a girls’ night with my friends and telling them about him. With every word I spoke I wanted to stop. He’s just a regular person who happens to be an actor. This was so freaking awkward, what was I doing? I wanted to crawl into a hole. I almost ran back into my house. “So, like, I had this thing with my friends... We have girls’ night on Zoom on Monday’s and we were chatting about our day and I was telling them I met this new neighbor and he was an actor and so I was telling them your name and um, funny thing, my friend was like, ‘Oh shit that’s Captain America.”

A small chuckle left his mouth in a breath as he looked towards his left to look up the street. He looked back towards me with the left side of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “Already talking to your friends about me? Wow, I must have made quite the first impression.” Cue my cheeks blushing harder. “And correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t hear a question in all that.”

My goodness. What was this man doing to my insides? He looked perfect standing there with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand holding his dog’s leash. And here I was in my sweats with my hair up, brushing profusely while making a complete fool of myself. I’m a thirty-two year old woman, get yourself together.

“Um, are you Captain America?” My voice was so quiet I could barely hear myself.

“Ah, so you found out my dirty secret.” He raised his eyebrows towards me. In the light of the retreating sun and the glow from the street light, I saw that his eyes were more bluish-green than traditional blue and I felt mesmerized. “I was wondering how long it would take you to find out.”

I looked down to my feet and kicked my right foot around the grass in front of me. “Yeah, it’s not like I haven’t seen the movies. Because I have. I just… didn’t recognize you.”

Lisa’s front door opened and she appeared. “Chris, your phone’s ringing!” She said and looked towards me. “Oh hi, Emily! Hi Max!” She waved and closed the door.

As Chris started walking towards the house pulling Dodger along, I felt the need to say something because I’m usually not this crazy around people, especially those I first meet. “I am really usually not this embarrassing. It’s not every day you meet a Hollywood actor who’s really good at his job.”

As he got to the door and opened it, he turned back around and said, “Well I’m flattered. And besides, I like the look on your face when you’re embarrassed. It’s cute.”

And then he went into the house and his front door was closed. I stood there for a moment and then looked at Max. I pressed my lips together into a line and turned back towards my house. I walked in, let Max off his leash and seemed to float down to sit on my couch.

I leaned my arm on the couch and started chewing on my thumb nail. I didn’t make that up, right? Chris literally said that I was cute. I mean, he said I was cute when I was embarrassed, but he definitely said I was cute. I was certainly developing a little crush on Chris. He was handsome, had the most amazing bluish-green eyes, and his laugh was one of my favorite things to listen to.

Max stood in front of where I was sitting towards the couch and looked up at me. “Max, what do I do?” I said to my dog. 

I picked up my phone and texted Tina and Ashlee. _GUYS_ , was all I said knowing that would get their attention. The first reply I received was from Tina which was just two question marks. _I asked Chris if he was Captain America._

 _AND??_ Ashlee said.

_He said it was cute when I was embarrassed._

I had to wait a little longer for their replies, letting what I had just said sink in. Almost simultaneously, I received the word “Bitch” in all capitals with a bunch of question marks after it from each of them.

 _GET. ON. THAT._ Ashlee sent, giving each word it’s own text bubble. 

_I definitely have the smallest of crushes on him. I’m going to his house for a socially distant barbecue with his family tomorrow, let you know how it goes._ As I sent that text, I looked at the time and realized it was time to start getting ready for bed. It was only about 8 pm, but I would usually take a shower, and watch some Netflix before falling asleep.

 _Oh, you better!!_ Tina sent in one message and then, _And let us know when you fuck his brains out, we won’t tell the CDC you broke social distancing!_ I laughed out loud and got up off the couch. After placing my phone on the charging station next to my bed, I went into the bathroom and turned on the water for my shower. I stripped my clothes and stepped under the hot water, letting it hit my face.

The shower has always been the place I think. It was quiet and soothing, a peaceful place to decompress, and think about my day. Usually my thoughts were crowded with my students, or how I handled a situation at school that I should have done differently, but today I was thinking about the boy next door. Well, the _man_ next door. I felt like a giddy sixteen year old whose crush smiled at them for the first time. He made it really easy to like him and laugh with him. I couldn’t wait to get through tomorrow so that I could go to the barbecue Lisa was having and see him again.

After shaving, lathering my body, and shampooing my hair, I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. I grabbed my towel from the closet, dried off, and wrapped the towel around me. I held it up with my left hand and stood in front of the sink, admiring my reflection in the mirror. My long brown hair was much longer than I would like, but quarantine had started and hair salons were closed so I was going to have to live with it getting a little longer. I smiled at myself in the mirror. I was no size four, I had broad shoulders and a lot of curves. My chest was a size D and I had a hard time finding jeans that would fit my ass and my waist. It had taken me a long time to love and accept myself and my body. To get the thoughts of terrible people in my life out of my head that had called me fat and ugly over and over again. Which might be why having someone like Chris saying I was cute affected me so much. He seemed sweet, genuine, and hot as hell.

After admiring myself in the mirror for a bit, I brushed my teeth and made my way into my bedroom. I threw on an oversized t-shirt and shorts and pulled down my bed. Max made his way to the bed he had in the corner of my room and laid down, ready for bed himself. I turned on Netflix and put on _The Office_ , one of my favorite tv shows that I couldn’t stop watching over and over. I liked having it on before bed because I’d watched it so many times, I didn’t miss much if I fell asleep.

I grabbed my phone from my side table and started surfing through social media. First I opened Instagram, liking a few posts from friends and then let my curiosity get the better of me. I typed “Chris Evans” into the search bar but couldn’t find an Instagram account that belonged to him. I then turned to Twitter to see if he had an account there. After typing his name into the search bar, his twitter account came up. His header was Dodger laying on the floor with what looked like a giant stuffed lion laying next to him. He was looking towards the camera with a sad expression on his face. The first tweet which was posted at 4:15 pm earlier in the day, was a picture of him and Dodger titled “Homebodies”. The picture was mostly Dodger, sitting belly up in Chris’s arms. Half of Chris’s face was cut out of the picture, but he wore a sweet close-lipped smile on his face. He was wearing a red sweatshirt and had a chain with a dime-sized pendant that I had noticed him wearing earlier. It warmed my heart how much he loved his dog.

The last thing I remember was hitting the “follow” button, putting my phone back on the nightstand and drifting off into a deep sleep.

The next morning my alarm went off at 8 like it does everyday. I opened my eyes and stretched, throwing my arms straight up above my head, flexing my feet and then pointing my toes. “Morning Maxy!” I said, throwing the covers off me. The first thing I did every morning was go to the bathroom, then return to my room and make my bed. This morning was no different. After that, I changed into some leggings, sports bra, and sweatshirt, and then I threw my hair up into a bun on top of my head.

After getting dressed, I grabbed my laptop off the charger and put it on the arm of my couch. I went into the kitchen and prepared my daily smoothie and then sat down on the couch and opened my laptop. Tuesdays were a bit different because from ten to twelve I had office hours for my students. I opened a Zoom meeting and students could join the video chat to ask questions about assignments, things they were struggling with, or even if they just wanted to say hi.

I quickly checked my email and answered some that had come through last night. Most of them were from the principal talking about logistics about the school year, how much we should be posting and interacting with students, a Google Doc where we should put names of kids we haven’t been able to get in contact with, and even one from her that says we are doing our best and she’s been getting a lot of feedback from parents and families about it. That put a smile on my face.

Once I was done with my smoothie, I shut my laptop and got up to put my dish in the sink. I wanted to make sure to get Max’s walk out of the way so that I could be back in time for my office hours.

“Ready for a walk, Maxy?” I leaned down towards him to put his leash on and plant a kiss on his head. “Let’s go baby boy!” I threw my crocs on my feet and made my way out the door.

After taking Max on our usual lap around the neighborhood we came home and I fed Max. He ate quickly, and then he immediately jumped up to lay on the couch because he had come accustomed to the fact that the couch would be my next stop. I sat down on the couch and pulled my laptop into my lap and logged into my Google Classroom.

I was flooded with pictures of the ecosystems my students had made so that they study the water cycle. I posted a comment reminding them to join my office hours today if they needed to with the link to our Zoom meeting. Then, I composed an email to my co-workers on my team teachers with the names of students I haven’t heard from and asked them if it was also the case for them before I put those names into the document that the principal had sent to us.

Once it hit 10:00, I logged into the Zoom call for my office hours and made sure that my volume was on so I could hear if a student joined me. Last week, I had about ten students log into my office hours to see how I was doing and ask about assignments and how distance learning was going to work for our class. 

As I was sending comments to students that had uploaded their ecosystems, I heard the familiar noise that told me someone had joined my Zoom call. I was surprised to see it was Teddy, a student that I hadn’t heard from yet and was very concerned about.

Teddy was new to our school this year and he had a hard time adjusting. His father had left their family a few years ago and had three other siblings that his mom was in charge of. He had struggled in his last school and was well behind the students on his reading ability so I really tried to work with him.

“Hi Teddy! I’m so happy to see you! How are you?” I said with a smile on my face.

“Hi Miss Barrett,” he said with a frown.

“What’s wrong Teddy? Is everything okay?” I adjusted my computer screen so that it was a bit closer to my face and I could see him better.

“This is really hard.”

“What’s really hard buddy?”

“All the work that we have to do. It’s a lot.” I saw his bottom lip quiver and it broke my heart. “And I hate being home all the time. Joey and I just started being friends and now I can’t even see him.”

“Oh buddy, I know it’s hard. I’m here all by myself, just me and my buddy Max.” I moved my computer so that he could see Max and I saw his face light up. I had a picture of Max on my desk at school and I talked about him often. He was also the background on my computer and the kids loved when I projected my computer and they got to see him.

“Hi Max!” He yelled. I’m glad it seemed to put a smile on his face because it immediately put one on mine.

“Listen buddy, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed, like you have too much stuff to do and you can’t handle it all. I feel the same way.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do! There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, but we’re all in this together, okay?”

He sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks Miss Barrett.” I heard a voice come from his computer which sounded like his mom. “Miss Barrett, my mom wants to talk to you.”

“Okay!” I said as I saw Teddy’s mom walk into the frame. “Hi Ms. Garcia!” I had met Teddy’s mom plenty of times throughout the school year to check in with her about how she has been adjusting at school.

“Hi Miss Barrett, I’m so glad to talk with you. Please call me Kelly.”

“Well in that case, call me Emily. What can I do for you to help with Teddy?”

“He is having such a tough time with the assignments and he’s really missing his friends. I was so glad, he seemed like he was finally opening up and getting comfortable here.” I looked over to Teddy who was resting his chin on his hands and looking down at the table in front of him. “There’s a lot of reading for him and he really struggles and it’s hard because I have three others to take care of and make sure they all do their work too. I’ve been reading to him, but I’m not sure how else to help him.”

My heart ached for this family. Kelly cared so much about her children, Teddy especially. And now he was isolated without his teachers and friends to help him.

“Reading to him is great! I mean, I can only speak for myself and my assignments so you should definitely talk to his other teachers but would it help if I recorded myself reading the assignments and sent it to him so that he could listen and read at the same time?” I chewed on the bottom of my lip, trying to think of other solutions for him. “And perhaps I could send you Joey’s mom’s email address so that maybe you could set up a virtual playdate with Joey?”

The look on her face immediately warmed my heart. It looked like I had just taken a huge weight off her shoulders. “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. I knew that you were Teddy’s favorite teacher for a reason. You have always gone above and beyond for him.” She almost looked near tears, and it felt like I was going to cry myself.

“Kelly, it’s not a problem at all! I will get right on recording the assignments. Teddy, don’t worry about last week’s assignments, just start with yesterday. But you have to get your brothers to help you.”

“I can do that, Miss Barrett.”

“Alright so, you’re going to need to get a container and fill it with grass, rocks, and some water and then close it up real tight okay? We’re studying the water cycle this week.”

“Okay! I can do that!”

“Perfect! And when you’re ready send me a picture okay? I’ll send you an email with my feedback and a recording of the questions from yesterday and today, okay?”

“Thank you Miss Barrett,” Teddy said with a smile on my face.

“Anytime Teddy.”

“Emily I cannot thank you enough,” Kelly said with a hand over her heart. “You have no idea how much that is going to help him.”

“Kelly just remember you’re doing a good job, okay?” She had her hand on her heart and nodded. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“I don’t think so, that’s more than enough.”

“I’ll pass it on to his other teachers that he’s struggling, but it wouldn’t hurt to reach out to them either.”

“We absolutely will. I’m so glad we moved here and Teddy has a teacher like you.”

“Thank you so much, I’m gonna go get to those recordings okay! Bye Teddy! Say bye Max!” I moved my computer over to show him Max again because I knew how happy it would make him.

“Bye Max! Bye Miss Barrett!” Teddy and his mom both waved to me and ended the call.

I sent off a quick email to Teddy’s other teachers, and then got to work on recording reading the assignments for him. I decided to post the recordings on my Google Classroom because I figured that there might be another student that could use them as well.

I had about sixteen students in total come to my office hours and it was so nice to see them and answer their questions. I think that most of them came to see Max because they kept asking for him, but I will gladly show him off to anyone.

After ending my office hours, I got up to make myself a sandwich and start on the pasta salad that I was making to bring to Lisa’s barbecue tonight. I wasn’t sure what she was having but my mom taught me to never come empty handed when you were invited to someone’s house.

As I ate my sandwich, I boiled the water for the tri-color pasta and chopped up tomato, pepper, and cucumber, placing them into a large bowl. When the pasta was done, I drained it and placed it in the bowl as well. I then soaked it in italian dressing and threw it in the fridge so that it could become cold for Lisa’s party. 

After a few more hours of work I was in my room braiding my hair, and getting ready to head to Lisa’s house. I changed my leggings for jeans, sports bra for a real one with more support, and a black v-neck t-shirt. I tucked the front of my shirt into my pants and grabbed the sweatshirt I had been wearing. I swiped a bit of mascara over my eyelashes, put my phone in my back pocket and then headed to the kitchen to grab Max and my pasta salad.

“Wanna go see Dodger, Maxy?” I said to him and he immediately started barking and wagging his tail. He ran over to the door where his leash was and sat down, shaking his butt. “Hold on, okay?” I said as I laughed.

I grabbed the pasta salad out of the fridge and covered it with plastic wrap. I put Max on the leash and looked at the time seeing it was 5:12. Oops, I was late. At least my commute was short.

I juggled Max and my pasta salad as I walked out the back door and over to Lisa’s. When I got there, I saw Lisa’s other children, Shanna, Carly, and Scott sitting with her in chairs around an unlit fireplace. Scott was holding Dodger on the leash and Max immediately took off towards him.

“Hi Emily!” Lisa said to me and got up to grab the pasta salad from me. “What did you make? You didn’t need to bring anything.”

“Listen, my mom would have my head if she knew I showed up empty handed,” I laughed and then I realized I hadn’t brought my mask. “Oh shoot, let me go home and get my mask.”

“Oh psh, we won’t tell if you don’t tell,” Lisa said, lowering her voice to me and then laughing. “You live by yourself, you probably haven’t caught it so don’t get your mask for us,” she said shaking her head.

While it was scary to think about contracting a disease that made it hard to breathe, Lisa was right. I haven’t gone anywhere since we have gone on quarantine except for walks with Max. And having young children, I’m sure her family had been safe this whole time.

Lisa grabbed the pasta salad from my hands and put it on a long table on the deck. I looked around, looking for Chris when I saw him open the glass door with frozen hamburgers and hot dogs on a tray in his hands. “Hey Em!” he yelled towards me and the nickname sent butterflies throughout my stomach. A lot of people called me that nickname, but I hadn’t expected how effortlessly it slipped out of his mouth. “Hey Max!” he yelled to my dog.

“Hi Chris,” I waved at him. “Hey Carly, Shanna, Scott, long time no see!” I said, sitting in a chair next to Scott so that Dodger and Max could greet each other. I looked to the left to see Carly’s kids and her husband, Ryan, passing a soccer ball to each other. “My goodness, Carly, those aren’t your kids! They’re so big now!”

“Tell me about it,” she said. “I blink and they’re forty.”

While I hadn’t really hung out with the Evans clan, I had met them a handful of times since moving next to Lisa two years ago. Carly and Scott were around most of the time. Lisa loved seeing her grandbabies so they were the ones I had probably seen the most. 

“Are they having a horrible time with distance learning too?” I pouted.

“Oh my goodness, I don’t know who’s having a worse time--them or me.”

“Don’t I know it. It sucks,” I said under my breath.

“Flame on!” We heard from the grill and Chris turned to us with a smile. Everyone laughed except for me, apparently an inside joke that I didn’t understand.

Scott saw my look and turned to me to explain. “It’s his line from _Fantastic Four_ ,” he said like he thought I would have known what he was talking about.

“Scott she barely even knew I was Captain America she doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” he somewhat shouted from his spot at the grill. “She did gush about _Before You Go_ though. It’s her favorite movie, just ask,” he gloated. 

I blushed and looked away. “Oh my god, please stop.” I was already getting embarrassed and I hated that I couldn’t have control over that emotion.

“Seriously?” Scott shouted.

“About time someone didn’t fall all over him,” Shanna said and I laughed with her.

“Thank you! Someone is on my side!”

“That’s true though, he has too many groupies.”

“Lisa your daughters are my new best friends,” I said to her as she came out of the house with a pitcher of lemonade and a stack of red solo cups.

“Mom, they’re ganging up on me,” Chris wined.

“Oh shut up you big baby,” I laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him and his family laughed.

“Alright everyone, hot dog or hamburger, make your request!” Chris shouted and everyone shouted back his orders to them.

“Emily, grab some lemonade or there’s beer in the cooler. Just be careful that you don’t take it all so Chris doesn’t cry.”

“Oh c’mon! Now you’re all doing it.” Chris said with a laugh.

“It’s cause we love you,” Lisa teased and kissed his cheek as she passed by him to sit down with us. I tied Max’s leash to the arm of my chair and walked up onto the deck to grab a beer.

“Em, do you want cheese on your hamburger?” Chris asked as I went into the cooler and grabbed a beer.

“Yes please,” I smiled at him trying to get the cap of my beer off. He saw me struggling and started laughing at me. I eyed him. “I thought Captain America was supposed to help the people,” I teased, holding my beer out to him.

“Does it look like I’m in uniform?”

“Wow, you seemed so helpful in those movies. I didn’t know how good of an actor you were. I’ll just ask someone who will _actually_ help me,” I shrugged my shoulders and started to walk away.

“Oh fine!” He said, shut the grill and held his hand out to me to grab the beer from me.

“Nope, you made it clear you couldn’t help me.” I slipped the beer and my body past his grip, taking the bottle opener with me.

“Emily, give it,” he said laughing. He caught up to me so fast and grabbed the beer out of my hands. “Geez woman,” he said as he opened the bottle for me.

“Thank you _sir_ ,” I grabbed my beer from his hands and sauntered off the deck, swinging my hips hoping that he was watching me.

“You’re welcome _ma’am_ ,” I heard spoken in the same tone that I had said it which made me slightly chuckle.

The food was almost as amazing as the company. Lisa also made a ceasar salad and corn on the cob. Everyone raved about my pasta salad so I was really glad that I had made it. After eating and chatting for a while, Chris and Ryan made a fire and cooked s’mores. It was about 9 o’clock now and everyone had gone inside to sleep and get ready for bed except for Scott, Chris, and I who were sitting by the fire watching it slowly die.

I took a sip of my third beer of the night and yawned. “I can’t believe I’m still up, it’s past my bedtime.”

“Oh c’mon, grandma,” Chris shot at me, taking a swig from his own beer bottle. His features looked much sharper from the glow of the fire. It had gotten kind of cold so Lisa brought out blankets for us when she said good night.

“Hey, some of us have shit to do during the day,” I shot back.

“Ooh shots fired!” Scott laughed. He was sitting to my right, and Chris was sitting across from us. Suddenly I heard a phone ringing and Scott grabbed his phone from his pocket. “Oooh!” he squealed, “Goodnight!” He answered the phone, shot out of his chair and ran towards the house.

“Leaving us for pillow talk with your boyfriend, yuck!” Chris got out before Scott slipped through the door and into the house. I saw him flip Chris off before he disappeared and I laughed.

“And then there were two,” I pointed the top of my bottle towards Chris as a cheers before taking the last sip from it and putting it down at my feet. I looked towards Max who was laying next to me. Dodger and Chris mirrored our image with Dodger laying at his feet.

“How was distance learning today?”

“Good. On Tuesdays I have office hours so I had some kids come to that. They just say hi or ask questions about assignments.”

“How many kids?”

“I think it was about seventeen. I finally got to hear from one of my students that I hadn’t heard of since the closure so that was really good.”

“Oh that’s awesome, are they okay?” He took the last sip from his beer and set it on the ground by his feet. I watched him drumming his fingers against the arm of the chair.

“Yeah, he just moved here and he was having trouble making friends. I feel so bad, he had just made a friend and we went into quarantine. And to top it off, he’s been having a lot of trouble reading. He’s not at the same level as everyone else. _And_ his mom’s a single mom with three other boys.”

“Oh wow. You never know someone’s circumstances, so that’s great that they reached out to you. I forget that people don’t always have the same support that I did.”

All of a sudden Chris got up from his seat and grabbed his beer bottle. He walked over to me, leaning down and grabbing the bottle that was at my feet. He brought them over to the recycling bin that was on the side of the house. When he came back, he sat next to me in the seat Scott was previously occupying. 

“Yeah,” I said, startled as he sat down so close to me. The butterflies were going crazy in my stomach and I looked away from him, down to Max. “Your family is great,” I said and looked up towards the house. I had so much fun talking with Chris’s family it almost felt like I was talking to my own.

“Tell me about your family,” he said so seriously that it almost shocked me. The look in his eyes said that he was interested in what I had to say. “Are you close with them?”

“Oh yeah,” I smiled. “It’s hard because they’re not around here but we are super close. My mom and dad live in North Carolina. They used to live here but my dad hated the cold so they moved down there. I keep trying to get them to come back but she says the only way is if I give her grandchildren.” I rolled my eyes.

“That sounds familiar,” Chris laughed. “I think my mom tells me every other day to give her more grandchildren.”

“Seriously! Like, what is up with that? I’ll give you some when I’m good and ready! Besides, you kind of have to be in a relationship to even think about that.” I wrapped my fingers around the bottom of my right braid and twisted it around, nervously.

“I totally get it. I can’t just push out a baby, kind of need a lady for that,” he laughed and looked towards me. I smiled to myself, so he was single. I mean, not that he would ever be interested in me, but he did call me cute when I was embarrassed so maybe a girl could dream? “Do you have any siblings,” he said, changing the subject back to our previous conversation.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I have a twin brother. He lives in Washington with his wife. He’s like my best friend, I miss him so much,” I frowned. The last time I saw him was at Christmas. Him and his wife stayed at my house for the week between Christmas and New Years. It was one of my favorite holidays ever. “I haven’t seen him or my parents since Christmas. Which I guess isn’t that long, but I miss them so much.”

“I know what you mean. I go months at a time without seeing my family and it sucks. This virus is awful, but I’m glad it let me come home to see everyone.”

“Yeah, that must be awesome.” Suddenly I thought of something. “I’ve lived here two years though, how have I never seen you before?”

“When I’m here I usually spend my time at my house. I have a house in Lincoln, but I just put it on the market so I don’t really have a place to stay here in the meantime.”

“Ah, gotcha,” I nodded my head and yawned again. I looked at my phone which read 9:34. “Wow, I should really get to bed. I’m usually in bed watching _The Office_ by now.” I looked down towards Max at my feet. “What do you say boy? You tired?” I pat his head and he looked up towards me. I looked over at Chris while I untied Max’s leash from the arm of the chair. “I’ve got a staff meeting in the morning, I should get going. But this was fun, thanks for inviting me.”

Chris stood up with me and grabbed his phone from his pocket. I recognized his background as the picture of him and Dodger that I had seen on Twitter yesterday. “Why don’t you put your number in?” He said, handing me his phone. “You know, in case you need someone to open your beer bottles for you?”

I smirked. Boy was he smooth. “I mean, it’s not like you live far,” I shrugged and let out a breathy laugh. I grabbed his phone from him and added my phone number. “Just text me and I’ll save yours. I can’t offer beer bottle opening services, but if you got a science question, I’m your girl.”

Chris laughed and walked over to Dodger, grabbing his leash. “I might take you up on that. Goodnight Emily,” he said as he walked with Dodger into the house.

“‘Night Chris! ‘Night Dodger!” I said after them as he closed the door. Chris looked at me with a smile on his face and it brought the biggest smile to mine.

When I was safely back in my house, I took Max off his leash and looked down at him. “He’s got my number Max!” I said to him as he walked away from me. “Geez, you could be a little happier for me,” I said after him. I saw him walk into my room and laughed. He was mad at me because he should have been in his bed at this time.

As I was about to head into the shower and get ready for bed, my phone dinged, notifying me that I had a new text message. _Hey Em, it’s Chris. Thanks for coming tonight, I had a lot of fun._

I smiled as I immediately tapped my fingers across the keyboard. _Again, thanks for inviting me, I had a blast._ I quickly added his number into my contacts when my phone chimed again.

_Remember to text if you need me, I know you’re only using me for my strength._

As I typed out my response, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face or get rid of the butterflies in my stomach. _I watched your movies. You’ve really let yourself go. I’ll get Scott to help me._

He sent back a shocked emoji and then a sad emoji to which I replied, _Oh sorry to upset you, Captain._

_That’s right, don’t disrespect me. I’ll get the Avengers on your ass._

_OOH, I’m SO scared_ , I fired back. I really enjoyed this banter we were having. I was trying so hard for it to be flirty, but I was never sure how texts could be received.

 _Sleep with one eye open, I know where you live._ I placed my phone on the charger and I hopped into the shower. After getting out and wrapped a towel around myself, I walked into my room to change into my t-shirt and shorts, ready for bed. Before falling asleep I took one last look at my phone and read Chris’s last text, _Goodnight Em_. I didn’t even turn on _The Office_ , I went straight to sleep with a smile on my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love writing this story so I appreciate all the kudos! Question: Do you like longer chapters or would you rather read shorter ones? I really love longer chapters but wouldn't mind changing it up for you guys! Leave me some comments about your thoughts and how you are liking the story so far!


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the week went by faster than I thought it would. I had been really busy answering student emails and comments on Google Classroom and recording the rest of the assignments so that Teddy and other students that needed it could have access to them. I also posted a video of me with a special appearance by Max telling my students that I loved them, they were doing awesome, and to let me know if they needed anything during this time.

My mom called on Thursday to check up with me and see how I was doing. She and my dad lived in North Carolina and were in their 70s, so they were taking all the precautions they could. They hadn’t left their house and even scheduled grocery delivery. They have a neighbor who’s about my age that asked them to let him know if they needed anything and I was relieved that they had people like that around them. I had been feeling guilty lately that I wasn’t closer to them to help them. It was great to talk to my parents for a while because we were so close and I missed them so much, and who knows the next time I’m going to get to see them.

Today was Saturday and my alarm went off at 8 am just like every other day. Even though it was the weekend, I tried to keep to the same schedule and not sleep in too much. The only difference from the weekdays was I didn’t really open my laptop on the weekend. As I walked into the kitchen to grab my smoothie for breakfast, my phone chimed with a new text message. When Chris’s name popped up on the screen I immediately smiled.

After the barbecue at Lisa’s house, Chris and I had been texting quite a bit, but it was mostly sending pictures of Dodger and Max back and forth to each other. I really liked the friendship that we were falling into and would never complain about seeing pictures of Dodger. I opened this message to see Dodger sitting amongst sheets on what was probably Chris’s bed. He had a sad expression on his face as he was looking up towards the camera. Chris accompanied it with the text, _Someone’s missing his bff._

I knew that he meant Max but sent a playful message of, _Oh my goodness Dodger, I miss you too! I knew we were best friends!_

 _I meant Max but he definitely misses you too,_ he sent back and then sent another picture. This time it was a selfie of the two of them. Dodger was still in the same spot as the previous picture but now Chris was on Dodger’s right. His eyes were closed and his face was scrunched up with a smile, leaning towards Dodger. While I couldn’t see most of his body, I could tell that he was shirtless. I could see the black ink of a tattoo right below his collarbone. I couldn’t quite make out the three small lines of text but it intrigued me to find out if he had any other tattoos. I had a few myself, but they were very small and not very visible.

“Maxy,” I called over to him so that he would look at me. He was sitting on the floor next to me and I snapped a picture as he looked towards me. I sent the picture to Chris with the text, _Tell Dodge that Maxy loves and misses him!_

I put my phone down on the counter and grabbed out all my ingredients for my smoothie. After I made the smoothie, put the ingredients away, and grabbed my straw I sat down on my couch and patted the spot next to me for Max to jump up with me. As I turned on my Apple TV and started scrolling through my apps to find something to watch, another message from Chris came in.

 _What are you doing today?_ I paused to think. What was I doing today? Probably just going to watch some movies, maybe play my favorite videogame of all time, Mario Kart.

 _Not sure, probably watching some tv, definitely not working! How about you?_ A thought quickly entered and escaped my mind that perhaps he would ask me to hang out with him. How would I say yes without sounding desperate?

 _Gotta do some work, mine doesn’t stop on the weekends._ I wasn’t prepared for how sad I would feel when he didn’t ask to join. I really wanted to be his friend because he was so easy to talk to and it seemed that whatever we were doing, I was always laughing.

As I was typing and retyping a response, he set another text that sent a flutter through my chest. _Wanna go to Walden Pond with me and Dodge? Max is invited of course._

“Maxy, wanna go on a hike with Chris and Dodger?” I said in a voice to get him excited. He looked up to me and his ears perked up and sent me a bark.

_Max perked his ears and barked so I’ll take that as a yes. Just let me know what time you’re done with your work!_

As I waited for his response, I started replaying our conversations in my head. I couldn’t deny it any longer, I had a huge crush on him. He was smart, funny, fun to be with, had a huge heart, and cared about everyone, and he was all wrapped up in a pretty package. I started to think if he had given any hints that he could possibly have a crush on me. I kept replaying him calling me cute in my mind, but he also just seemed like a flirty guy in general so I wasn’t really sure.

After sending a quick text to my group chat with Tina and Ashlee, talking about how he was making me feel like one of my middle schoolers, a text from him came in saying _How about at 12? We can pack some lunch?_

I smiled, sending my reply back. _I can make sandwiches! I’ve got meats and cheeses or peanut butter and jelly, let me know what you want!_

After Chris sent me his lunch order of a turkey and cheese sandwich, and I sent him a reply telling him I’d also pack some waters and treats for the dogs, I opened my phone to spend some time on social media to see what was going on today. For the most part, it was people posting old photos or themselves at home. When I opened Twitter, I smiled at the retweets I saw that came from Chris. He was retweeting a lot about healthcare workers and trying to get PPE and N95 masks for them.

One of my really close friends was a nurse and she was going through a really rough time right now. I had seen some of her posts talking about what nurses were going through right now. I made a mental note to send her a text to catch up and see how she was doing.

One of Chris’s posts caught my eye that was a retweet from Apple TV. Chris was in a new tv show called _Defending Jacob_ based on a bestselling book that would premiere on April 24th. I pressed play on the trailer video and got chills throughout watching. From what I could gather, Chris was playing a father whose son was being convicted of murdering one of his classmates. I was really excited to watch this because Chris looked absolutely amazing in it. The range of emotion that he could show was astounding, and I truly admired him and his acting abilities.

 _Sounds great! I can drive us so just come over at noon!_ After I received that text from Chris, I also got another photo of Dodger standing in the grass with his tongue out of his mouth, looking up at the camera and the text, _This dude can’t wait._

I laid myself over Max’s body so that I could get a picture of the two of us to send to him. I closed my eyes and puckered my lips towards Max who gave me a dirty look. When I saw the picture that I took, I laughed. _I promise he’s excited, I think he’s just done with my shit._ I turned my attention back towards the tv and opened Netflix, pressing play on _Queer Eye_ , one of my favorite tv shows that I was rewatching. I’ve got to get some new tv shows into my rotation, I always watch the same things.

I hadn’t received a text back from Chris and I scolded myself at how much I kept checking my messages to see if those three dots showed up telling me he was typing something. I reminded myself that he had no obligation to text me and besides, he told me he was working, so I’m sure he’s just busy.

At about 10:30, I dragged myself to the kitchen and brought out the ingredients to get our picnic ready. I grabbed the turkey and cheese out of the fridge and heard Max ding the bells on the front door telling me that he had to go outside. “Gotta go outside, Maxy boy?” I looked at him with a smile as he sat down and faced me. I attached his leash to his collar and brought him outside, letting him smell around a little bit after he did his business. 

I pulled on his leash and he was being stubborn and pulling against me. “Max, let’s go. I gotta get ready,” I whined a little bit. “You’re not gonna get to see Dodger if we don’t go back inside.” I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at him. Sometimes I wish I could read his thoughts or he could speak English and understood what I was saying. Finally he let up and we walked back in the house. “Stinker,” I said to him as I unclipped his leash and he went over to his water bowl.

I went back to making our sandwiches. I even grabbed a bag of Doritos to bring and set aside two waters in the fridge for us. I took out a bunch of Max’s treats and put them in a plastic bag. I even had a collapsible bowl that I used for Max on road trips which I put next to the Doritos on my counter to make sure I remembered to pack it.

After the food was all set, I made my way up to my closet to change into hike appropriate clothes. While the last few days had been a bit warmer, today was still about 50 degrees so I could probably get away with yoga pants and a t-shirt. I also grabbed a sweatshirt because it was a bit colder by the water sometimes. Grabbing my sneakers and my backpack, I made my way back into the kitchen and put them with the Doritos and dog treats. 

Looking at the clock and realizing it was only 11:20, I threw myself onto the couch and turned Netflix back on. After consuming one episode of _Queer Eye_ , and wiping away my tears away because that show always made me cry, it was time for Max and I to head over to Chris’s house.

I packed our picnic into my backpack with my wallet and house keys, put Max’s harness and leash on, locked up my house and made my way to Chris’s house. There was a bounce in my step as I made my way over to his house and rang the doorbell. It was Lisa who answered the door with a smile on her face. “Hi Emily! And hi there Max!” She bent down to pet Max on his head. “Chris just finished up working and was getting changed, come on in!”

I hadn’t been inside Lisa’s house in a long time so I let myself look around. While our houses were next to each other, their layouts were very different. My house opened to the kitchen and then went into the living room as you walked towards the back door, but Lisa’s house opened up to a set of stairs, a dining room to the right and living room to the left. I walked with her through the dining room and into the kitchen as she asked me how the rest of the week had gone for me since she saw me on Tuesday.

“It’s been pretty good, I feel like I’m kinda getting into the groove of it. Which is sad because that means it’s been going on way too long.”

“Bless you for what you do. I couldn’t imagine running the theatre right now,” she said with a shake of her head. Lisa had been the director of the Concord Youth Theatre for a long time but had recently retired.

“Yeah, we had a staff meeting on Wednesday and our principal said she’s pretty sure we’re not coming back this school year. I was really sad to hear that. I get it, it’s to keep everyone safe but everyone’s life changed so quickly it’s hard to take it all in.”

Suddenly I heard a voice coming down the stairs yelling, “Hey ma, have you seen my car keys?” The voice got louder as he made his way closer to us in the kitchen. “Oh hey Em,” he said with a smile. Really the only people that called me “Em” were my parents and my brother and I never made it clear that he could call me that but I was never going to tell him he couldn’t. I loved the way it sounded coming out of his mouth.

“Hi Chris! Ready to get your hike on?” I said and shot him finger guns. FINGER GUNS?! Kill me now.

He grabbed his keys off the island in the kitchen and kissed the side of his mom’s head. “I’m just hoping you can keep up,” he gave me a sideways look as he passed me on his way to grab his sneakers by the door.

I looked over at Lisa, “Remind me again why he’s my friend?” We laughed together as Lisa shook her head. I walked up behind him as he clipped Dodger’s leash on and got a great look at his backside. Oh, damn. His joggers clung to his ass and gave away every dip and dimple on it. I had never admired a man’s ass this closely before but this was a work of art. I watched as he threw his wallet into his joggers and said bye to his mom and brother as we walked out the door.

“Bye guys! Be safe!” Lisa yelled behind us as she locked the door.

“I didn’t know Scott was still here,” I said as Chris unlocked his car. “I guess he’s not a hike person?” I opened the backseat and had Max jump up on the seat. “Lay down Maxy,” I commanded and he did as he was told. I put my backpack on the floor in front of Max and closed the door.

“Nah, he’s not the biggest fan of physical activity. He would have just slowed us down,” Chris said with a chuckle. I sat in the front seat and closed the door almost at the same time he did. He put his sunglasses on and pulled out of the driveway. I looked over towards him and finally saw that his hair was much shorter than when I saw him last.

“Hey, did you shave your head?”

“Oh yeah,” he said and rubbed his left hand over his head as his right was on the steering wheel. “Scott needed a haircut so he cut his and then I helped fix it. Then I cut mine too. It’s so much easier, you don’t have to think about it.”

“I’m jealous! If I could pull off shaved hair I totally would, but I cut my hair short once and a few people legitimately thought I was my brother so I would never.”

Chris laughed, “You guys probably don’t even look alike!”

“We don’t! And he’s literally half a foot taller than me! One time I had a girl literally hit on me. When she called me Mike I was like, ‘Really? You’ve got to be kidding me.’ She must have been high, there’s no other explanation. Like, I have boobs, dude!”

Chris’s laughter intensified, “Imagine if she tried to make a move on you.”

“Oh my god, I would have been mortified! I’m sure she would have too if I didn’t run away.”

It was strange to be driving and not seeing many cars pass. Since being in quarantine, there’s obviously been very few people out and about. The recommendation was to stay six feet away from each other and not gather in groups. Parks were okay because they were out in the open, so long as people stayed six feet away from each other. I looked between Chris and I in the car, noting that we were not six feet apart but I think that boundary had been broken long ago.

“Did you get all your work done?” I asked, remembering how he was spending his day.

“Oh yeah, I’ve got some interviews scheduled and filmed a reading for Save with Stories, they’re donating money to No Kid Hungry.” He switched his left hand to the steering wheel after taking a left turn and put his right hand down in the center console.

“Oh, so I guess being Captain America and saving the world isn’t all talk then,” I teased.

“Oh please,” he brushed off, “just doing what I can.”

“I’m just kidding.” I poked his bicep with my pointer finger and was met with rock hard muscle. I pulled my finger back to my lap and pretended to be picking at my nails. “So like, I don’t know how to talk about this cause I’ve never met a famous actor before but I saw the preview for _Defending Jacob_ and it looks really good.”

“Oh yeah?” He actually sounded surprised that I had seen it and then he laughed. “You know, you don’t have to clarify all your statements, you can just ask me or talk about it. It’s my work, like if I ask you about your latest science project for school.”

“Oh okay,” let out. At the same time I was about to say sorry Chris spoke.

“And don’t you dare say sorry.” He quickly looked over at me.

“I wasn’t.” I looked away and I could see a smirk form on his face. He looked over at me and when I met his eyes, we both started laughing. “I can’t help it!” We sat in silence for a minute while he stopped at a red light. “It looks really good though, I’m totally watching it.” I looked over to him to see the smile still on his face. I looked out the window as we pulled into a small parking lot by the pond. 

Since it was early into quarantine and it was recommended to stay home, there was only one other car in the lot. Chris put the car into park and I unbuckled my seat belt. “Maxy, you ready boy?” I said before I opened the door and climbed out of the car. I shut my door and opened the backseat one as Chris did the same. I put on my backpack and grabbed Max’s leash, letting him jump out of the car. “Are you so excited, Maxy?” I leaned down to pat him on the head before shutting the door. 

In that moment I realized how happy I was to have Max there because I didn’t trust myself if I didn’t have a distraction to look away from Chris’s smirks.

“Ready?” Chris said as he shut the door and locked his car. He must have grabbed a baseball cap from the backseat because when I looked at him again he was wearing a navy blue cap with the Red Sox “B” on the front of it. I gave him a smile as we started up the trail that led to the pond. I had never been here before but I could tell Chris had because he seemed to know exactly where to go. I followed him up the path, stepping over some twigs and fallen branches.

“You weren’t lying saying I couldn’t keep up,” I said from behind him, pulling Max along with me. Having never been here before, Max wanted to stop and smell everything. 

He laughed and stopped to look back at me. “Sorry, everytime I come here I love getting to the pond and sitting there, I forget about the walk there.”

I sauntered past him, skimming close to his chest and said, “Now who’s saying sorry?” I really wanted to look back at him to see his reaction but I kept walking forward even though I had no idea where I was going. But, I could hear a slight chuckle from him behind me. Max immediately pulled me to stop so that he could go to the bathroom. “Max, you messed up my comeback! We were supposed to keep walking,” I pretended to chastise him.

“Oh please, you didn’t even know where you were going,” Chris retorted.

“You don’t know that.”

We fell into a comfortable silence as we walked a bit more and came to some rocks going down to the pond. Chris easily walked down the rocks with Dodger and turned back to offer a hand to me. I was about to send a snarky remark when I somewhat tripped over my left foot because Max basically jumped down all the rocks, pulling me with him. I grabbed Chris’s hand to steady myself and he guided me down the rocks. In the few seconds that our hands were connected, I thought way too much about how it felt to have my hand in his. I’m almost certain there was a blush on my cheeks.

“Max! Trying to kill me is not nice,” I grumbled when I got back on level ground. “You better watch out, Dodger is gonna be my favorite.”

“Did you hear that Dodge?” Chris smiled towards his dog who looked back at him. “Our plan is working.”

“You’re trying to turn my dog against me?!” I laughed, following him to a spot by the water. “How dare you!” Chris fell into laughter with me as he sat down on a grassy spot underneath a tree. As I sat down, I picked up a stick and threw it in his direction. “That was supposed to hit you.” He laughed even louder because of how badly it missed him.

“Good thing you’re a teacher,” he teased.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” I pretended to be shocked, but I was still laughing with him. I pulled Max closer to me and told him to sit. “I guess somebody doesn’t want their lunch then.” I smirked at him as I took my sandwich out of my backpack and then closed it.

He started to get up, “Okay fine, I guess you don’t want a ride home.”

“No no no! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I laughed as he sat back down. I grabbed his sandwich from my backpack and threw it at him. “I also brought chips,” I took the Doritos out of my backpack and put them on the ground between us. “And waters.” I put the waters in front of us too. “Oh! And, I’ve got a bowl that's collapsible,” I took it out and opened it, and closed it, looking at him until he laughed at me. “Want some water, Dodgey boy?” As I said his name, Dodger came around Chris’s back and over to me.

“That _cannot_ be your nickname for him!” He leaned back and smacked his hands on his legs.

I poured some water into the bowl and let Dodger lick out of it. “He likes it, don’t you Dodgey?” I said in a baby voice as I pat his head. 

Chris opened his sandwich and took a bite from it. I filled the water again so that Max could have some water. Dodger laid down in between us and Max was on my right side. I pulled my knees up to my chest to rest my elbows on them as I took a bite of my sandwich. I looked out at the pond and noticed how peaceful it was. There was no one around and it was easy to hear the sounds all around. I heard a bird chirping behind us, and even a few ducks splashing in the water. The sky was clear with a few clouds so the sun was shining down.

“I’ve never been here. It’s really nice,” I said breaking the small bout of silence we were in.

Chris nodded as he swallowed a bite of his sandwich. “I used to come up here all the time, especially before _Captain America_.” He took another bite. “It helped me clear my head and accept the role. I didn’t want it at first.”

“You didn’t want it?!” I was shocked. I figured that actors always took roles they were offered. Especially ones as big as a blockbuster superhero film.

“No, they offered it to me two times.” I was quiet as he looked out to the water and thought for a moment. “I didn’t think acting was right for me.”

“Why?” I let out the word in a breath because I honestly couldn’t believe it. He was so good in _Before We Go_ , and _Defending Jacob_ looked spectacular so I couldn’t imagine a moment where he didn’t think this was right for him.

He finished his sandwich and looked towards me as he spoke. “I was having really bad panic attacks. I just thought acting was this fun thing that I did and then it all of a sudden became the only thing I did. It had all of a sudden become my career and I didn’t know how to handle it. To top it off, the social media was just getting big so everything you said or did was going to get scrutinized.”

I finished my sandwich and rested my head on my hands, looking back at him. “So what made you decide to do it?”

“I was on a break and I came here by myself just to get my thoughts together. And then Robert Downey Jr. called me and made me feel a lot better.” He went from a sad smile to an expression where I could tell he was reminiscing on the memory. “And then it was the best decision I ever made.”

“Wow,” I paused. “This place must be really special to you.”

“Yeah, I always make sure to come here whenever I visit my family. There’s just something about this place.” He looked out towards the water.

There was a pain in my chest because I felt for him and what he went through but also because I felt insanely special that he had shared those memories and this place with me. He made it easy to tell him anything. “I know what you mean though.” He looked towards me with a questioning look. “Every day I wonder if I’m really cut out to be a teacher. I never know if it’s the right thing for me,” I looked away from him because he was looking at me so intently, but also because I had never shared this with anyone before. I started chewing the inside of my bottom lip. “Especially now. Other teachers are doing so much. I worry that I’m not doing enough or could be doing more.”

“I think the fact that you’re worried about it says that you’re already a good teacher,” Chris said and my heart exploded. He knew exactly what to say. I gave him a small smile. We spent a few minutes looking into each other’s eyes and I couldn’t put my finger on it but the pull that I had towards him was insane. It felt like he saw me and understood me, and we hadn’t even known each other for a full week. 

Max barked and startled me. I looked over to him and realized he saw a squirrel climbing up a tree. “Oh Max, chill out. Sit down,” I scolded him. I was mostly just mad at him for breaking the moment Chris and I were having. I picked up the Doritos and opened the package. “I haven’t had Doritos in so long!” I tried to change the subject and not bring up what had just happened.

Chris took a few from the package, “Do you know my fans call me a Dorito?”

I laughed so hard that I almost choked on the chips in my mouth. “Excuse me, what?” he started laughing with me, grabbing his left pec muscle.

“Yes! Someone said that my proportions look like a Dorito, so that’s what they call me!” We continued laughing, our laughter a little louder than before.

“Well then, how do you taste?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted them. “Welp, oh no,” I said, trying to take it back. Chris erupted with laughter, grabbed his legs and started bouncing his legs up and down. I laughed harder at his reaction than what I actually said. “As soon as I heard what I said, I regretted it.”

After our laughter died down, I grabbed my phone from my pocket to check what time it was. After seeing that it was a little after 2, I opened my camera app to take some pictures of the water and then turned the camera towards Chris and I.

“Take a picture with me!” I scooted a bit closer to him and held the camera so that we were both in the frame. We took a few smiling pictures, and a few making funny faces. “Maxy! Dodger! Look!” I pointed to the camera as if they were going to listen to me. I moved Max so that he was between my legs, Dodger was still between us and we positioned ourselves so that we were all in the camera. I took a few snaps of us and looked back at the pictures, smiling. “These are so cute!”

After sitting and talking for about 20 more minutes, we decided to get up and head back. Our walk back to the car was pretty quiet, each of us making a random comment here and there. The ride back to Lisa’s house was even quiet, and while the quiet was comforting, I was wondering what was going on in his head.

He parked in his driveway and I opened the door, closed it, and walked around to get Max out of the car. “Thanks for today, I had a lot of fun,” I said as I closed the door to the backseat.

“Me too, Em.” He threw a small smile my way.

“Bye Dodgey boy!” I said over my shoulder as I walked towards my house. When I turned around, I saw Chris walking into his mom’s house, chuckling and shaking his head.

I got to my house and unlocked a door, the smile never leaving my face. I took Max’s leash off and he went straight for his water bowl. I stood at the door for a moment, thinking to myself. I don’t think I could call this a crush anymore, I was developing real feelings for Chris and I really wanted to know how he was feeling towards me, but I was way too scared to ask.

I had only had one relationship that I would classify as a real one, and it started with him asking me out on a date so it was very clear that he was interested in me. With Chris, I had no clue. We laughed and talked like friends, but the smiles that he threw me did things to my heart that I never wanted to stop. Oh man, I’m in trouble.

I sat down on my couch and took my phone from my pocket, going through the photos that I took today. My heart exploded looking at us in the pictures and I decided to pick one of us with Max and Dodger to send to Chris. I sent it to him with, _Thanks for sharing such a special place with me today, it meant a lot._

A few minutes later I received a response from him, _Wouldn’t have wanted to share it with anyone else._ My heart started beating so fast and, I swear, I squealed. He could have meant it in a friendly way but all I was thinking about was how he only wanted to share this special place with me and that meant more to me than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter full of Emily and Chris. I hope you're in for a ride guys, cause this is a SLOW BURN. But, I really love writing this and I hope you like reading it. Leave me a comment on what you think is going to happen next!!


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up on Sunday morning to Max jumping on top of my bed. He did this a lot, especially when he got too hot in his bed. I usually snuggled with him because I loved cuddling, but he wasn’t a huge fan of it. When I grabbed him to pull him closer to me, he sneezed in my face and jumped off my bed. I laughed at him and turned over, going back to sleep.

It was now about 3:00 and I was laying on my couch watching tv. I had spent the better part of my morning watching some of Chris’s movies. I was really interested to see some of the other things he was in. _Not Another Teen Movie_ was by far my favorite. It was a parody of teen movies and I think every line made me laugh. Although I am a thirty-two year old lady, I love me some teen romance movies. I was most definitely a hopeless romantic.

Chris was much younger in the movie and if I had to guess, I would say he was about 20 years old. He looked strange with dark black hair, but he played the popular jock really well. The icing on the cake was most definitely when his character walked in the scene with whipped cream and cherry on each of his pecs covering his nipples, a large triangle of whipped cream covering his dick, and a mound of whipped cream and banana sticking out of his ass. I felt the heat between my legs and felt a little embarrassed that I was getting turned on by Chris’s 20 year old movie self, when this man was living next door to me.

After watching that movie, I put _Queer Eye_ back on but I wasn’t really paying attention to it. I was currently watching that and scrolling through my phone. I was laying on the couch with Max at my feet when I heard my doorbell ring. Max went running towards the door and started barking. I pushed him out of the way so that I could open the door and when I did I saw Scott standing in front of me.

“Did Chris come here?” Scott immediately asked me.

“Um, no? Why would he come here?” I was very confused. Scott was a little red in the face and looked like he had been running.

“We’re playing hide and seek with Ethan, Miles, and Stella, and no one can find him and we’ve been looking for like ten minutes.”

I laughed. “No, he didn’t come here, sorry.” I went to close the door, but instead said, “I don’t know that I’ll be much help, but I can help you look, if you want.” 

“Oh, yes!” Scott bounced up and down and ran back towards his mom’s house.

“Maxy, stay here. I’ll be right back.” I slipped on my crocs that were by the door and went out the front door, following Scott.

“Uncle Chris!” I heard Ethan yell. It looked like Ethan and Stella were looking in the front yard while Scott and Miles were looking in the backyard.

As I stepped off the last stair of my porch and started to turn left towards Lisa’s house, I heard “psst” coming from behind me. I stopped, turned around and heard it again. I laughed because I could tell it was Chris but I didn’t know where he was.

“Where are you?” I walked towards the other side of my deck, and as I was looking around I felt fingertips graze my right ankle. I turned to look at a large bush that was on the right side of my house and saw Chris crouching behind it. I made my way behind the bush to crouch down with him. “You came over to my house, that’s definite cheating.”

We heard “Uncle Chris!” shouted again and I poked him in the side.

“I’m just using my resources,” he said as he shot a smile at me.

“No you’re just worrying your family, making them think they’ve lost you.”

“Scott was so close. I literally watched him look around the porch.” He laughed and peaked up above the bush to see if he could see anyone. When he did, his blue long sleeve shirt lifted up to show me a sliver of his stomach and I couldn’t pull my eyes off it. I sucked in a breath as he sat back down. He looked back at me with a smirk when I got a mischievous idea.

I ran out from behind the bush and started running towards Lisa’s house yelling, “Stella, Ethan, Miles, he’s over here!” As I was yelling, I heard the sound of running from behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Chris coming right at me.

“Now who’s the cheater!” he yelled as he caught up to me. I was no match for his speed. He wrapped his arms around my waist and threw me over his shoulder so that my face was directly in line with his ass.

“Uncle Chris! You can’t hide at Emily’s house, that’s cheating!” Miles yelled at him.

“That was never stated in the rules!”

I was still over his shoulder and started poking his back yelling, “Chris, put me down!” It was hard to tell what I was saying when it was mixed in with my laughter.

“Uncle Chris! Uncle Chris!” Stella started yelling as she ran over to all of us.

He lowered me to the ground and turned his attention over to Stella who he picked up and threw into the air. “Stella bell, you found me!”

I could feel my heart swell watching Chris interact with Stella. He would make a great dad, and I couldn’t believe that no one had snatched him up yet. A family is something that I’ve wanted for so long and watching this attractive man being so cute with his niece did lots of things to my ovaries.

“Glad I could help guys! Have fun!” I waved as I started walking back towards my house.

“You’re not gonna play?” Chris said turning towards me. “You can play the next round.”

“Nah,” I waved him off. “Max is stuck inside and this is your game, maybe I’ll join some other time.”

“Emily, you can stay! We were gonna play wiffle ball next!” Ethan said, jumping up and down. I saw Scott coming out of the garage holding a yellow bat and a white wiffle ball.

Stella ran over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the backyard where they were going to set up their game. “Please play, Emily!” In her cute toddler babble, my name sounded more like “Wemily” but I was sold as soon as she put her hand in mine. No wonder Chris and Scott would do anything for these three. 

“Let me go grab Maxy and I’ll put him out in the backyard, okay?” I looked down at Stella who nodded her head. I smiled at her saying, “I’ll be right back.”

I quickly walked back over to my house and heard Max bark as I opened the front door. When I entered, he started giving me a happy dance and jumping up and down like he hadn’t seen me in forever. I laughed at him and bent down to pat him, “Wanna go outside Maxy? I’m gonna play wiffle ball with the Evanses.”

I attached him to his leash, changed out my crocs for some sneakers, and headed towards the back door. After attaching Max to his lead that was in the backyard, and making sure I could see him from Lisa’s backyard, I stood over next to Chris who was setting up bases using orange cones.

“Alright, we need team captains,” Chris said, throwing a smile at me. I smiled back at him while the rest of the group walked over to stand with us.

“Stella and I are a packaged deal, sorry boys.” I picked Stella up and held her on my hip, giving her a high five.

“Uncle Chris and Uncle Scott are team captains!” Miles said.

Chris and Scott agreed and went to stand in front of the rest of the group. Chris put his hands on his hips, and looked at us intently like he was trying to decide who he was going to pick. “I gotta go with my man Miles,” he said pointing at him.

“Yes!” Miles said and pumped a fist in the air as he stood over with Chris.

“Emily and Stell, get over here,” Scott said. I jogged over to him and gave him a high five.

“You guys are so going down!” I said as Ethan walked over to be on Chris’s team and gave his uncle a high five.

“Alright, rock, paper, scissors for who’s batting first,” Chris said and turned his attention to our team captain. Chris and Scott shook their fists three times, yelling “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and then threw out their choice on “Shoot!” Chris’s fist was closed, indicating that he had chosen Rock while Scott threw out two fingers, picking Scissors.

“Dang it!” I said when I saw that Scott lost.

“What do you say boys, batting first?” Chris asked his nephews who cheered. “Alright then, we’re batting first.”

Scott and I kneeled down so we could huddle with Stella to figure out where we were gonna stand. “Alright, I’ll pitch,” Scott started. “Emily, how about you stand by first base with Stell? She’ll be so cute they’ll never want to get it by her.” We laughed together and walked opposite ways, taking our positions.

Chris was first up to bat. The bat was so skinny in his large hands. He took his stance on the left side of the cone at home base. He wiggled his eyebrows at Scott who was getting ready to pitch him the ball. When Scott pitched it to him, Chris hit the ball and it soared so far passed us, into the trees that lined the backyard.

“Stella! Get him! I’ll get the ball!” I said, running for the ball. Once I located it, I ran back to our bases, seeing Stella running after Chris who was just rounding third base and on his way home. Ethan and Miles were cheering on their uncle. I ran as fast as I could to home base but it wasn’t any use because Chris was so fast.

“It’s not fair!” I yelled. “He’s a superhuman!” I threw the ball at him and hit him on his chest. He looked up at me with a shocked look on his face and took off running towards me. I ran back towards the trees where I had found the ball, trying to get away from him.

He caught up to me way too fast, just confirming my theory that he was definitely superhuman and tried to pick me up by my waist like he had done before. Just as he was about to grab me, I ducked underneath his grasp and took off running again. I realized how disadvantaged I was, but wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Unfortunately, I tripped on something and lost my footing, going down in the middle of the outfield. Chris laughed and stood over me as I pouted, sticking out my bottom lip. “Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder again,” he said in a low, raspy voice and my entire body shivered. He held his hand out towards me and I grabbed it so that he could help me up. I silently prayed that he couldn’t feel the sweat on my hands, or see the blush that I’m sure I was sporting.

“Are we going to play the game?!” Scott shouted at us, like a scolding mother with his hands on his hips. Chris jogged back towards them, while I stood in my spot for a few more seconds and then made my way back to them.

My mind was clouded for the rest of the game and I couldn’t think straight. I replayed Chris’s words in my mind. I even thought about how much I wanted him to throw me over his shoulder again. I wanted him to do a lot of things to me. Dirty, dirty things.

Since Scott was down a player because I couldn’t play for shit, Chris’s team won. The boys cheered and celebrated when we announced the score after playing five innings.

“Em, you could come for dinner if you want,” Chris said to me, taking me out of my fog. I didn’t even look at him because I was afraid how my body would respond if I did.

“Thanks, but I told my mom I would call her.” That was a lie, but I couldn’t hang out with him anymore today.

“Maybe another time then.”

“Yeah, sure.” I turned around and headed back towards my house. I grabbed Max off his lead, and rushed into the house with him. 

I quickly fed Max and walked into my bathroom so that I could take a cold shower. With the water running down my body, Chris’s words replayed themselves in my head. My mind flashed to the memory of watching him in _Not Another Teen Movie_ this morning. My breaths were becoming deeper as my mind shifted to being alone with him at Walden Pond. Somehow the two memories were melding together and I was undressing him in my head. 

My hand slipped between my legs to relieve some of the tension that was building there. I thought of his muscles, his large hands, wide shoulders, and slender waist. I’m sure every part of him was sculpted to perfection. I leaned against the wall of my shower as the water sprayed onto my stomach. My hand moved faster as I dipped one finger inside myself. I drew my other hand up my body to pinch my nipple as I dipped another finger in and began pumping faster. 

As I drove myself over the edge, the multiple smiles he had sent me over our week of friendship flashed into my head. I cried out as my body shook all over and I rode my hand to my orgasm’s end. I took a few moments just standing there and breathing, before cleaning myself up and finishing in the shower.

After my shower, I slipped into my pajamas and sat down on the edge of my bed, slightly embarrassed. I had never gotten off to the memory of a man before. I can’t even remember the last time I had only used my hand to bring myself to an orgasm, and here Chris was doing that to me. I put my head in my hands and sighed, deciding that I was going to head to bed early and just watch some Netflix.

As I pulled my comforter down, my phone vibrated with a notification. Chris’s name popped up on my screen and my body felt hot. It’s like he knew that I was thinking about him. _Stella keeps asking when you’re going to hang out with us again._

For some reason, my escapades in the shower must have had me feeling brave because I replied, _Just Stella?_

Max made his way to the side of my bed and sat down, looking at me, silently asking if he could come up. I pat the spot next to me and he jumped up. He walked around in a circle for a minute, getting comfortable and then laid down with his butt right next to mine.

 _No, Dodger too_ , was Chris’s reply. I rolled my eyes. That is definitely not what I was going for so I decided to push further.

 _That’s it?_ I sent back.

I stared at my screen, eagerly awaiting his reply. My reaction to the vibration of my phone was like a pavlov response and I immediately held it to my face to unlock it. _I didn’t think I had to make it obvious that I want to hang out with you again._ Butterflies attacked my insides, just like they always did when I talked to him.

 _Gee, I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of plans in the coming week_ , I joked. We were stuck in quarantine, I literally had no plans except working. _But maybe I could pencil you in for a movie night?_

I impatiently waited for his response, clutching my phone to me. _How about Friday? I’ll bring the pizza._

Can’t wait. I added a smiley face emoji. I threw my phone down on its charger and pressed play on _Queer Eye_. I hugged my pillow as I laid my head down with a smile on my face. I wasn’t even sure what time it was as I drifted off to sleep.

***

As I was patiently waiting for Friday to be here, the week was dragging along. I posted a new assignment on Monday dealing with the elements, and said that I was going to host a live Kahoot game on Friday. Kahoot was a fun game that I used in my classroom, where students logged in with their computers or phones and had to use their phone to answer the questions on the screen. Points were given based on how fast you answered, and students got really into the game. I was excited to have it virtual, and hopefully a lot of them would join me.

Girls’ night on Monday was so much fun, even though the whole time was mostly spent talking about Chris. I told them about the barbecue, our hike, the wiffle ball game, and read some of our text conversations. They were convinced he was into me, and while I’ll admit that his behavior was flirty, I wasn’t fully convinced that he was into me. I told them about my feelings for him though, and that we were going to have a movie night on Friday and I was a little nervous to have him inside my house. 

Tina said that it was really helping her and Steve to make sure they had their own alone time. They were even trying to have fun dates, setting the table and putting candles around their house. I’m glad that things were working for them, and she seemed really happy when she was talking about him like she usually was, rather than last week.

Ashlee had been putting her creative juices to work and was starting to paint canvases and flower pots. I had told her she should start an Etsy store, and she said she would think about it. I put in my request for some flower pots for my back porch. I also urged her to get on some dating apps, if nothing more than to flirt with some guys and have some fun.

It was now Thursday, and today was my birthday. The only difference from today and my regular birthday is that I wouldn’t be going into work, and I wouldn’t be able to have dinner with my co-workers or Tina and Ashlee.

I woke up to my alarm and looked over to Max saying, “Happy Birthday to me, Maxy!” He looked up at me as if he knew what I was saying, but he probably just knew it was breakfast time because he left the room and walked towards the kitchen.

For my birthday I decided to make myself a waffle for breakfast instead of my usual smoothie. I heard my phone sending me notifications of people wishing me a happy birthday. As my waffle cooked, I sent off a few thank you texts. Most of them were from my co-workers, who I’m sure saw my birthday on Facebook and decided to text me too.

I grabbed my waffle off the waffle maker and threw it on a plate, regretting picking it up with just my fingers. I grabbed some syrup from the fridge, and slathered it on my waffle, making sure to pool it in a few of the indents and put it back in the fridge. I unplugged the maker so it could cool down, grabbed a fork and made my way to the couch to sit and eat.

I sent a text to my brother wishing him a happy birthday and planning our annual birthday FaceTime for 6:00 that night, making it about 3:00 his time. I’m sure he was still sleeping, so he would text me when he woke up.

I had spent all morning answering Google Classroom comments, emails, birthday texts, and Facebook posts. At some point in the afternoon, I almost had a heart attack because I heard an incessant amount of honking coming outside my house. Wondering what was going on, I went to look out my front window. I was met with the cars of my friends, Tina and Ashlee, with balloons attached to them. Ashlee was standing out her sun roof with a sign that read “Happy Birthday Emily!”

I whipped outside without even putting my shoes on, embarrassed and yelling, “Oh my gosh! Stop honking! All the neighbors are going to come outside!”

This was not helpful because Tina sent me three more honks. She was leaning out the passenger window and Steve was driving the car. All three of them were wearing their masks. Tina leaned out the window with a present bag and threw it on my lawn. “Happy Birthday bitch!” she yelled.

I laughed and put my face in my hands. “You old hag!” Ashlee said, while she repeated the same action, throwing a present on my front lawn.

“You guys are crazy but I love you!” I yelled to them.

I looked around the neighborhood to make sure that none of the other neighbors had come out worrying about what all the commotion was. To my chagrin, I heard the door to Lisa’s house open and saw Chris walk out onto his porch. He was wearing dark grey sweatpants, a long sleeve red shirt, and socks on his feet. His long sleeve shirt was clinging deliciously to each of his muscles, and he started walking over to me.

“What’s going on out here?” Chris said and kind of laughed. My eyes immediately went wide and I sent a look to my friends silently telling them this was him even though I’m sure they already knew. He looked at the cars and saw the signs and balloons and then looked towards me. “It’s your birthday?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking down at my feet. Tina honked her horn again, startling me and I gave her a dirty look.

“Is this the neighbor?” Ashlee yelled. Gosh, how I wished for more subtle friends. When Chris was gone I was going to kill them. Chris turned to me and smirked causing me to bite my lip. “I hope you’re taking care of Emily or I just might have to kill you.”

“Ashlee-” I started.

“Oh don’t worry, she’s in good hands,” he said to them and then turned back to me. “I didn’t know it was your birthday.”

I laughed a little, “It’s not like it’s something people advertise. I don’t know your birthday,” I pointed out.

He pressed his lips into a line like he was thinking. He brought his hand up to his lips and used his whole hand to pinch his lips together. He raised his eyebrows and then walked back into his house, and I sighed of relief. I immediately ran closer to my friends and said, “I hate you.” It was shot more towards Ashlee, but Tina made most of the commotion.

“Emily. Fucking. Barrett.” Ashlee punctuated every word. “The next time you speak to me I only want it to be because you’ve had the most amazing sex with that man.”

Tina threw her head back to laugh and then leaned over Steve to honk the horn again. “Stop honking, Tina!”

“He said you were in good hands,” Tina said suggestively. I could feel the blush rising to my face as I smiled a little but then covered it with my hands.

I wouldn’t call myself a prude, but sex meant a lot to me and I had only had sex with one man in my life. I had lost my virginity when I was twenty-seven. They definitely knew this, and would try anything they could to embarrass me about it. I knew that deep down it was out of love, but sometimes it was relentless.

“I hate both of you.” I looked up towards them and realized how happy I was that they were here, especially because it was my birthday. “Thanks for coming. I love you guys.”

After chatting with them for a few more minutes and bringing Max out to say hi for a bit, Tina and Ashlee were on their way home but not without another jab at making sure to get my “freak” on. I rolled my eyes but was really sad when I saw their cars driving away.

My parents called to wish me a happy birthday, and now I was on my FaceTime call with my brother Mike. I was a minute older than him, and I would never let him forget that he was my “little” brother.

“What’s new, Em?” When he used my nickname, my mind instantly went to Chris and how he had started calling me that. I would never, in a million years, tell Mike about Chris so the thought of him left my mind as soon as it entered.

“Not much! Tina and Ashlee gave me a car parade today and embarrassed the shit out of me.”

“That sounds like them.”

You could tell that Mike and I were related, but I never thought we looked more alike than that. We had the same nose, and eye color but that was about it. Mike had short brown hair with the start of a beard growing. He was a software developer who was still able to work from home, and he had been very busy. Even though he was home, he probably didn’t have the time for shaving. I liked the beard though, it suited him. He was much taller than me, towering at about six feet while I was shorter at five foot four inches.

“Hi Emily! Happy Birthday!” Mike’s wife, Olivia, entered the frame and waved at me.

“Thanks, Liv!” I said and immediately pouted. “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in so long!”

“Mike and I were just talking about that. And now with all this, who knows the next time we’ll see each other,” she said.

I loved my brother’s wife. They were absolutely perfect for each other and felt like another girlfriend for me. We spent most of the family parties talking to each other while Mike went off with our cousins. Olivia was only a little shorter than Mike with beautiful long, blonde hair.

They met when Mike moved out to Seattle for work. Olivia was a realtor and worked for the office that sold Mike his house. As soon as I met her, I knew that she was perfect for Mike and they had been married for five years.

“I’ve gotta show you Olivia’s present for me,” Mike said as he left the screen. Olivia smiled and raised her eyebrows. I heard the sound of a bag shuffling and a few seconds later, he re-entered the screen. I could tell that they were sitting down at their dining room table, and while the sun was setting for me, the sun was brightly shining in their windows. “Alright, close your eyes.”

“Why do _I_ have to close my eyes to see _your_ present?” I asked but did as I was told.

“Alright, you can open.”

When I opened them, the majority of the screen was taken up by something that Mike was showing in his hands. When I realized what it was, I immediately started shouting and crying. “Holy shit, holy shit, no way!” Mike was showing me a pregnancy test with two little pink lines. “Olivia! Holy shit, I’m gonna be an aunt!” The tears started streaming down my face. “They’re happy tears, I promise. Holy shit! Congratulations!” Max jumped up at my explosion and walked over to me on the other side of the couch and started licking my face, making us all laugh.

Mike and Olivia smiled at each other and then smiled at me. After that announcement, there wasn’t much more the three of us could talk about except the prospects of the baby. Mike said he told our parents that day and my mom cried. This would be her first grandchild and she’d wanted one so badly. I’m sure she was upset that we were in quarantine because I know she wanted to hug Mike and Olivia in person but for now, virtually will have to do. Olivia said she was six weeks pregnant and I told them I couldn’t wait to spoil the shit out of that baby.

After more happy tears were shed from me, we said our goodbyes. When I shut my computer, I leaned towards Max and shouted, “Maxy, you’re gonna have a cousin!” I was elated for my brother and sister-in-law and I wanted to tell everyone. I asked if it was okay that I post on Instagram and when they gave me the go ahead, I immediately posted a selfie of the three of us captioned with a happy birthday for Mike and how excited I was for them.

I did my nightly routine with a huge smile on my face because today was one of the best days I’d had in a long time. As soon as I pulled on my oversized t-shirt and shorts and was ready to get into bed, the doorbell rang. I was confused because it was about 8:30 at night and I wasn’t expecting anyone. I almost thought that it hadn’t rung, but after standing still and listening for another minute, I heard it ring again. I walked to my front door and looked out the window, recognizing the frame of the person that was standing at my door.

“Chris?” I questioned as soon as I opened the door and saw him. He was standing in front of me in the same clothes that he was wearing earlier, with a chocolate frosted cupcake in his hands. There was a single candle sticking out of the cupcake and he lifted his right hand, switching on a lighter and lighting the candle.

“Happy Birthday, Em,” he said as he pushed the candle towards me. I followed his eyes as they made their way over my body and it was in that moment that I realized I was wearing my pajamas and it definitely looked like I wasn’t wearing any pants. My heart started beating as I watched him take me in. His eyes came back up to mine and he said, “Make a wish.”

I closed my eyes and pouted my lips, thinking about what my wish was going to be. I thought about wishing for Chris, but that felt incredibly selfish. I ended up wishing for health for my new niece or nephew. I blew out the candle, taking it out of the cupcake and licking the frosting off the bottom of it. Chris handed me the cupcake with a smile on his face. I accepted it from him, saying, “Thanks Chris.” 

I wrapped my arms around his waist because I was feeling so grateful for him. I was careful to hold the cupcake behind him so I wouldn’t get any frosting on him. My face settled next to his rock hard pecs and I felt his chin rest on the top of my head. We stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything and it felt good to have him so close to me. I was the one to break from the hug and sent him another smile. 

I backed up and grabbed the door while still looking at Chris. The moment felt so intimate and I wanted to stay in it forever. “Goodnight Em.” He turned around and walked back towards Lisa’s house. I closed the door and leaned back against it, letting the tension leave my body and then giggled. I threw away the candle, and took the cupcake with me to eat and watch Netflix, while I thought about the man who gave it to me and the hold he had on my heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you definitely know Emily's feelings for Chris lol, what do you think his feelings for her are? Next up is their movie night, what do you think will happen? I can't thank you guys enough for the comments, kudos, bookmarks, and reads! It motivates me to keep writing!


	6. Chapter 6

“Good job Marco!”

I was currently in a zoom call with my students playing a periodic table version of Kahoot. Thirteen of my kiddos showed up for the virtual game, and I was so happy to see them. We took a few minutes to chat and see how everyone was doing, and I got to meet a lot of pets.

I couldn’t even express how much I missed these kids. They made going into work worth it for me everyday. I was one of those annoying people that loved my job and woke up every morning with a smile on my face, ready to start the day.

We had just ended the game and my students were saying goodbye, when one student stayed on, looking off the screen and then looking really sad. “Haley, is everything okay?” I asked and she looked towards me in the camera.

“This was really fun, can we do it again? I miss you,” she said in a small voice that made my heart burst and put a huge smile on my face.

“Of course we can! Let’s schedule Kahoots every Friday to go over what we learned in the week! Sound good?” She nodded her head, and before she exited the call, I made sure to let her know about the office hours I had on Tuesdays in case she wanted to talk to me before our next Kahoot game. After all my students exited, I ended the call with a smile on my face. I posted a quick comment to our Google Classroom thanking those that came, and letting them know this was going to be a regular occurrence on Fridays from now on.

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was 12:26, I closed my laptop and made my way into the kitchen to make some lunch. I went to the grocery store early this morning hoping to avoid a rush of people, and it was really easy to get through the store. Everything seemed clean, and there were staff making sure people stayed socially distanced. I picked up some popcorn and beer to go with the pizza Chris and I would be having tonight.

I bit my lip, and looked into the fridge thinking more about tonight than what I was going to have for lunch. I hadn’t realized how nervous I was until I really thought about him coming into my house, and sitting on my couch. He made my heart twist in ways I never thought possible and I was never a person to go after what I wanted. I have worked way too many extracurricular activities for free when I could have gotten paid for them because I wasn’t good at speaking up or fighting for what I wanted or deserved. So there was no way I was going to go after Chris first or even tell him about my feelings. I was scared shitless of being rejected. I was also scared to make a complete fool out of myself and he wouldn’t want to hang out with me anymore.

My eyes landed on some mayonnaise in my fridge, so I decided to boil some eggs and make egg salad for lunch. I grabbed a pot and filled it two-thirds full with water, and placed it on the stove with two eggs inside. I turned up the heat, and grabbed my phone to send a text off to my friends to ease my nerves about what tonight could be.

 _Movie night with Chris is tonight and I’m seriously freaking out._ I texted. I strummed my fingers on the side of the phone, anxiously waiting for a reply. I grabbed a lid for the pot to continue it’s boil when my phone dinged.

 _Make sure to wear your best matching undies! Lacy and RED._ Ashlee said and I rolled my eyes. My friends loved to tease me, but this wasn’t a joke. I felt like my heart was going to fall out of my ass and I needed some actual advice to get me through.

 _Bitch, I need REAL advice. This is a SITUATION._ I knew that shifting my attitude away from the playful banter would cause them to be serious and give me some actual advice. They have been there with me through some of the darkest times in my life and will always help me through.

 _What do you want to happen?_ Tina said. What _did_ I want to happen? I definitely wanted to hang out with him again. He was so funny and easy to talk to. It was hard not to like him. But I definitely didn’t mind if other things happened as well. Some cuddling, some kissing, some…

Ashlee’s text interrupted my thoughts. _Just be yourself and have fun. I KNOW you’re overthinking and analyzing everything. If it turns into something more than great, and if it doesn’t, that’s okay too._ They knew me too well.

_Yeah, that’s true. I just want to be his friend and then maybe more things, but I’ll just have to see where it goes._

_Yes, that’s all you can do!_ I smiled because this was definitely the kind of pep talk that I needed. While I had feelings for Chris, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he didn’t have any for me. He’s just another guy and another really great friend.

After thanking my friends, I put my phone in my pocket and began to make my egg salad sandwich. I threw on some lettuce and extra mayonnaise because I loved mayonnaise and then cleaned up the mess I made. I was making my way towards the couch when I heard the sound of the mailman’s truck coming by my house so I took my sandwich and made my way outside to grab the mail.

Bills, bills, and more bills. I found a purple envelope that was from my parents. I took a bite of my sandwich before placing it on the counter to open the envelope. It was a really cute birthday card that I put on my fridge. I finished my sandwich while flipping through a Michael’s flyer that came with coupons. I was definitely a crafty girl and I always saved the Michalel’s coupons. Right now they were only open for curbside pick-up and I was definitely thinking about ordering some crafts to pass my time.

As I sat down on the couch, I heard Max ring the bell that was attached to the front door. I hadn’t taken him for a walk this morning because he didn’t get out of bed right away. He was being lazy, so I let him sleep a bit more. “Oh, _now_ you’re ready for a walk?” I looked at him with my hands on my hips and he wagged his tail. I shook my head and walked over to him and attached the leash to his collar. “Alright sir, lead the way,” I said as he led me out the front door. After he did his business in my front lawn, we turned left towards Lisa’s house and made our way on our typical route.

The street that I live on is great for walks because the neighborhood is basically one giant circle. It takes about twenty minutes to walk the entire block, which is usually just enough time to tire Max out. Max started focusing on one spot in the grass which meant that he was going to poop. As he did, I stopped and looked behind me and saw a familiar pup and his owner coming towards me.

“Now who’s stalking who?” I said as Chris and Dodger walked towards me. Chris had his sunglasses and Red Sox cap on his head. He wore dark wash jeans, a Patriots t-shirt and white sneakers. Dodger seemed to start walking faster when he spotted Max. I picked up his poop as our dogs greeted each other with sniffs. “Dodge, you probably don’t want to do that. This guy just laid down a huge load.”

Chris laughed and said, “Oh totally fine. Dodge laid one just as we started walking.” Chris lifted his hand that was holding Dodger’s leash to show me the blue doggie bag that he was holding.

Max and I started walking and Chris and Dodger fell into step beside us. The boys stopped every so often to sniff and Chris and I slowly walked along with them. “So, are we still on for tonight?”

“Listen, I didn’t have any beer so I braved a liquor store for you. You better come over to drink it,” I slightly laughed and then looked away. He made me feel comfortable and brave to be a little flirty, no matter how silently I was freaking out inside.

“A woman after my own heart.” Blush. “Depends on the brand,” he tilted his head towards me as if challenging me to make sure I’d picked right.

“Well I thought Corona might be a little harsh. But I figured Sam Adams was a safe bet.” A car passed by us and Chris walked a little bit closer to me so that he wasn’t too far in the street. 

“Alright, I guess I can come over then.” He shot me another smile as we continued walking. While I couldn’t see his eyes under the sunglasses he wore, I could see the smile lines beside his eyes which I loved. We took a few more steps in silence until Chris spoke again, “What do you like on your pizza?”

“Ooh, that’s a tough one. I like all kinds of pizza.”

“Pepperoni?”

“Pepperoni’s good,” I nodded. “How do you feel about mushrooms?”

“I could deal with some mushrooms.”

“ _Deal_ with?! Mushrooms are the best, how dare you _deal_ with them?” I laughed. I loved mushrooms. I was that weird person that would literally eat them raw.

Chris let out a laugh and shook his head, “I’ll get mushrooms, Em. Don’t worry.”

“You will not be let in my house if there aren’t any mushrooms on that pizza.” I pointed at him like I was serious and then let out a laugh. “But the _real_ question is, what movie do we watch?”

“I don’t know, what are you in the mood for?” 

I looked up and noticed that we were getting close back to my house and I was sad to know that our walk would be ending soon. But, then a smile came to my face remembering that we still had the whole night ahead of us.

“Alright, don’t judge me.” He looked over at me quickly with a questioning look on his face. “So we went into quarantine and I invested in Disney Plus and I’ve been really itching to watch some Disney movies.”

Chris let out a scoff like I was being absolutely ridiculous. “Disney movies are my favorite! I would love to have a Disney movie marathon.”

“Oh, okay, good.” I pressed my lips together basking in the enthusiasm he had.

“You do know Dodge’s name is from _Oliver & Company_, right?” 

I searched my brain for the memory of watching _Oliver & Company_ and can barely remember it, it was so long ago. Until I remember the image of the orange and white dog with sausages around his neck on the top of the taxi. “Oh yes!” I exclaimed, remembering. “I haven’t seen that in ages! But he looks just like the dog!” I looked down towards Dodger and Max. “Max’s name isn’t that cool. He was born with it.”

“Aw, I think it’s pretty cool Maxy.” At this point we had stopped in front of my house and Chris had bent down to pet Max. The back of his shirt rose and there was a small part of skin showing which set my body afire.

I smiled stating, “This is where we get off this train.” I turned away from him and cringed at myself. I started walking towards my house while he retreated towards Lisa’s. “See you later, Captain.” I saluted him and he laughed, shaking his head slightly.

“5 pm on the dot. See you, Em.” I watched Chris walk into Lisa’s house and close the door. I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

I went into my house and detached Max’s leash, watching him run to his water bowl. “Max,” I whined, hoping he would know what I was trying to say to him. 

I sat down on my couch and placed my laptop in my lap. I was trying to rid my mind of Chris and our _friendly_ movie night that we were going to have by finishing my work for the day. I opened my laptop and my Google Classroom was still up. There were a lot of comments on my most recent post of students talking about how fun our Kahoot game was, and how more kids were going to join us for next week. I smiled and typed back a response telling the kids that I couldn’t wait for next week. 

I quickly sorted through my emails, noting a few from my principal about professional development. There were a few that the district was sending out for us to join, and also a question from my principal if some teachers would be able to offer professional development about Google Classroom and distance learning. I emailed back saying I wasn’t able to lead one but I would be more than happy to attend. I needed all the help I could get.

There was another email from my teacher team scheduling a zoom meeting for Wednesday next week so we could get together to talk about how much work we’re scheduling so we’re not overwhelming the students. I was happy about that and immediately thought about Teddy and how he said his work was getting really hard for him. I knew he would benefit from his teachers collaborating on the amount of work he was getting.

At around 3 I closed my laptop and grabbed it’s charger cord, plugging it in my room for the night. I glanced around my apartment finding a few forgotten items that I put back into their place, tidying up. I even decided to run the vacuum over the carpet, just in case. I hopped into the shower quickly, just to rinse the day off my body and switch into some a little nicer.

I didn’t want it to seem like I was making an effort, but I was making an effort. I blow dried my hair and ran a brush through it until it was smooth and shiny and let my hair fall at my shoulders. I put on a pair of jeans that were comfortable enough to sit on the couch in and a dark blue v-neck t-shirt. I brushed some mascara over my eyelashes and threw on some chapstick. I wasn’t a huge fan of makeup, but I wore it on occasion.

“You’re eating early, buddy,” I said to Max as I grabbed his food bowl. It was only half past four and I didn't know what else to do. I needed to busy myself with something so I decided that Max was gonna eat early tonight. He didn’t seem to mind, he was looking up at me with wide eyes.

After feeding Max, and keeping a watchful eye on the clock, I decided to sit down on the couch and flip through Disney Plus to see what movies we might want to watch. I was busy sliding through our choices when I heard my doorbell. Max got up and sent out a bark and my heart rate picked up. “Max,” I scolded him because he barked again. 

I made my way around Max to get to get to the front door. I pushed him back with my foot and opened the door revealing Chris with a large cardboard pizza box in his hands. “Hey Em. Hey Max!” I opened the door wider so that he could make his way in. He was wearing the same outfit as when we went on our walk except now he had a black zip up sweatshirt on. I looked down at my own clothes and I felt self-conscious for changing and really hoped he wouldn’t notice. 

He placed the pizza box down on the island in my kitchen and bent down to get on Max’s level. “Hey boy!” He grabbed his head with his hands and started scratching underneath both of his ears. “Oh yeah, hi Max.” Chris continued patting Max as Max returned his hello by licking Chris’s face.

“Wow, you really must be using me for my dog.” I playfully rolled my eyes. I went over to the pizza box that was on the counter and was about to lift it up when a large pair of arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders. “What are you doing?” I laughed.

“I’m just giving you the same hello I gave to Max. It might be a little weird if I grab your face and scratch under your ears though.”

We laughed together and when he let go of me, I immediately missed his warmth and his touch. I wouldn’t dare say it aloud but I had begun craving it.

“Alright, what do we have here?” I questioned as I opened the pizza box. I was met with a glorious smell of warm crust and melted cheese. The pizza also had pepperoni, mushrooms, as I requested, and spinach on it. “Ah yes, spinach to pretend we’re healthy.” I raised my eyebrows towards him as I grabbed a piece and took a bite out of it. It was delicious. “Ooh, I’ve been craving pizza all week.”

Chris took out a slice and sat down across from me on the island. “How has your week been?”

“Good. Social distance has been getting easier. Which is good, but also sad because that means I’ve been doing it way too much.”

“I’m sure you’re killing it.” He looked so right sitting at the island in my kitchen. He had one arm lying flat on the counter while the other was propped up by his elbow, holding his pizza close to his mouth. I took a moment to watch him as he wiped the corners of his mouth with his pointer finger and thumb.

“Thanks,” I mumbled with a bit of pizza in my mouth. I was not comfortable talking about myself, but felt empowered in Chris’s presence. But still, I wanted to push the focus off me and ask him how he was doing. “How was _your_ week?”

He nodded his head and swallowed his bite before answering. “Pretty good. It’s been a slow week so I’ve been spending time with my mom and Scott. I scheduled a few more interviews for when _Defending Jacob_ comes out but that’s about it.”

“I am _so_ excited to watch that, it looks so good.” I had maybe watched the trailer a few more times since seeing it because Chris was so talented and I truly was so excited to watch it.

He smiled, “Thanks. I had such a good time working on it. We filmed it around here, actually.”

“Oh really?” That piqued my interest. I still couldn’t believe that I had lived next to his mom for two years and I had never met him before. Lisa was really holding out on me. So when he said that he had filmed close to here, I feel like I would have heard about a world famous actor filming a tv show around here.

“Yeah, well, it takes place in Newton and they wanted to get the true Massachusetts feel.” I nodded as he continued, “It was real nice. It felt like a normal job, I got to go home and sleep in my own bed.”

“Where does filming usually happen? California?” I picked up another piece of pizza and laughed when I had to pull it so far away from the box to get the cheese to pull apart from the other pieces.

“Sometimes. Most of the _Avengers_ movies we shot in Georgia.” 

“I’ve always wanted to go there and get some good old Georgia peaches,” I said in a terrible southern accent. “C’mon, Captain, we got some movies to watch.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the couch. “Want a beer?” I questioned as he sat down.

“You said you got Sam Adams so you bet ya.” He winked and set off the attack on my insides.

I went back into the kitchen and grabbed two beers from the fridge, and a magnetic bottle opener off the fridge, shoving that in my back pocket. I balanced the two beers in one hand and the pizza box with my half eaten piece of pizza on top in the other. When I got back to the couch, I set the pizza box down on the coffee table and handed Chris one of the beers. I grabbed the bottle opener out of my back pocket and opened my beer and then handed it to Chris. He copied my action and then we both set our caps down on the coffee table.

Out of the corner of my eye I could feel him and I realized I was watching his every move. He sat in the middle of the couch with his feet propped up on my coffee table. I tucked my feet under myself in the corner of the couch. “Alright, I picked the genre so you can pick the first movie.” I took a sip of my beer and looked over at him.

“Oh then we’re so going with _The Little Mermaid_.” I laughed because I totally did not expect him to say that. “What? _Little Mermaid_ ’s a classic! And I know all the songs.”

“Oh you can’t tell me something like that. I’m gonna need to hear you sing every word!” I grabbed the remote off the table and typed “Little Mermaid” into the search bar. When the title came up, I swiped over to it and pressed play.

As the movie began, I started to get more comfortable. Chris and I had small comments here and there, but mostly we were watching the screen. My body had relaxed and I drifted a bit closer to him, crossing my legs at the ankles and resting my heels on the coffee table. 

When Ariel signed the contract to get legs but gave away her voice to Ursula, I scoffed. “Girl, you can’t change yourself for a man! Don’t you know that?”

“But she ends up with him in the end!” Chris held a hand out to the tv and looked over at me.

I brought my beer up to my lips and took the final sip, emptying it and leaning down to place it on the coffee table. “But it’s not gonna be a real relationship, it was based on lies!”

“Oh it sounds like there’s a story here, Em.” He smirked at me, bringing his own beer up to his lips and emptying it. The slow drag he took from it was so incredibly sexy and I had to look away to keep myself in check.

“Pfft, like you’ve never changed yourself or lied to get a girl.”

“Nah, don’t turn this on me, you started it. C’mon Em, fess up.” He rested his elbow on the back of the couch and let his head fall into his hand. He turned to look at me.

“It’s nothing juicy.” I paused for a minute and he raised his eyebrows at me to continue. “Okay, so like, maybe I failed a science test once in college so this hot guy would tutor me.”

Chris threw his head back in laughter, grabbing my shoulder with his right hand, almost to support himself as he laughed.

“It’s not funny! And he wasn’t even that good at science! Sitting in tutor sessions with him was literal torture.” And it was. He didn’t know anything, and I regretted it as soon as I started it. Brains are attractive to me and he didn’t have many, I don’t know what I was thinking. I jeopardized my GPA for him. _So_ not worth it. “Your turn.” I repeated his action of resting my head against my hand on the back of the couch. The sound of the movie continued around our conversation.

“My turn for what?”

“What’s your story?” I pushed and he pressed his lips together, shaking his head. “Oh, come on! You’ve totally lied to get a girl. We’ve all done it. And I told you mine. Be fair here, Chris.” I stuck out my bottom lip and looked at him with the saddest eyes I could muster.

He continued to press his lips together, but this time he looked like he was thinking. “Well maybe, one time a girl thought I was Channing Tatum and I, maybe, didn’t tell her she was wrong.”

I tossed my head back, my laughter escaping out of my mouth and Chris joining me. “Okay, that was just her fault. You look nothing like him! Except if you count both of you being really muscly white dudes.”

“Aw, Em, I knew you liked looking at my muscles.” He flexed his left arm and looked over at it and I could feel the blush creeping up my neck onto my face.

“We’ll they’re on like every inch of your body, it’s hard not to.” Oh my god, Emily. _Stop_. You’re digging yourself a grave that’s going to be hard to climb out of. “Want another beer?” I got up and grabbed our empty bottles and brought them to the kitchen, placing them in the recycling bin. I had to get out of the conversation we were having before it continued. Parts of my body were tingling that I couldn’t control so I wiped my hands against my thighs.

“Yeah, sure.” Chris said but I had my back to him while I was digging in the fridge. I took out two beers for us but needed to stay away from him for a bit longer so I busied myself making the popcorn that I bought for us earlier in the day. When it finished popping and I had put it in a bowl, I made my way back to the living room, sitting back on the couch. I had retreated to my place in the corner.

Chris grabbed a handful of popcorn and started throwing them in his mouth one by one. I watched him from the corner of my eye and after he missed three in a row, I laughed at him. “Would you stop making a mess on my couch?”

“Here.” He held a piece of popcorn between his fingers towards me like he was going to throw it so I could catch it. When I opened my mouth, he threw it too short and as I tried to catch it, I went too far forward and landed on the couch. He laughed but cheered when I picked myself back up with the popcorn in my mouth.

After finishing _The Little Mermaid_ , we were scrolling through the options to see what to watch next when the Marvel movies started to show up which surprised me. “Marvel is Disney?” I laughed. “Does that make you a Disney princess?” I turned to him with a smirk on my face.

“Yeah, you’re in the presence of a real Disney princess!” Chris took a sip of his beer, and I watched as his tongue slowly wet his lips when he was done. “Bow down to me peasant.”

“Oh shut up.” I rolled my eyes and hit him with the pillow that I was holding. He looked over at me with a shocked face and grabbed the pillow that was closest to him and hit me back with it. “You didn’t!”

“You started it!”

I got up, careful to place my beer on the table before it spilled and made my way over to him and smacked him with the pillow again. We got into a pillow fight, laughing at each other. As we got louder and more hits were being thrown in, Max got up from his spot on the floor and started barking at the two of us. He probably didn’t know what all the commotion was.

“Ooh, sorry Maxy boy.” I threw my pillow onto the couch and leaned down towards him. “Captain Princess was too loud for you.” I got a small hit on the top of my head with a pillow and watched Chris walk back towards the couch. I smiled down at Max as I watched Chris’s perfect ass walk away from me.

I made my way back towards the couch, Max following me and he jumped up to sit next to Chris. Chris scratched his belly and I was thankful to have a small buffer between us so I could scoot a little closer to him. We were only separated by Max and each of us had our feet up on the coffee table.

“Alright what’s next Captain Princess?”

Chris groaned and looked over to me. “Em, that can’t be your nickname for me now.”

“Oh you bet. Cap for short.” I gave him a big toothy grin and then stuck my tongue out at him.

“How about _Peter Pan_?” Chris asked as he landed on that from the list of movies. I laughed uncomfortably. I had a very embarrassing story about _Peter Pan _. “What’s funny about _Peter Pan_?”__

__I knew my face was beat red because he called me out. I took my bottom lip into my mouth and bit down on it. Chris pressed play and I remained quiet._ _

__“Em, why’d you get so quiet?” He wondered a few minutes into the movie. I thought that he wasn’t gonna press it, but I guess I was wrong. He looked over at me with a concerned look on his face. It wasn’t horrible, it was just plain embarrassing. But for some reason, under Chris’s gaze I felt like I could tell him anything and it wouldn’t change our friendship._ _

__“I, sort of, may have,” I started, trying to stall, and looked away from him. “Lost my virginity while watching _Peter Pan_.” I brought the pillow up to cover my face. My entire body felt hot because I remembered the day and it almost happened just as this one had. My boyfriend at the time, Kevin, invited me to his place to watch movies. We had been dating for a few months and I really trusted him. After watching a few movies but not really paying attention because we were making out, _Peter Pan_ started playing and things got hot and heavy. One thing led to another and I was no longer a virgin._ _

__“Ha!” Chris burst out. “That’s nothing. I lost my virginity and ran home and told my mom,” He laughed. I started laughing with him. Of course he would. I probably would have told Lisa too. She was the nicest, most supportive woman._ _

__“Hey I guess that’s better than hiding it and having a million secret babies.”_ _

__“Oh no, this guy wraps it before he taps it. And you only raw dog it when she’s on the pill.”_ _

__My face lit up with shock and laughter, and I hit him on the chest. “Christopher!” He was laughing and I could tell the beer was making him a bit loose on the lips. I couldn’t help but laugh with him._ _

__We returned to the movie shortly after that but the only thing playing in my mind was visions of having sex with Chris. How he probably took his time, was gentle or rough in the right moments. His beard scratching against my thighs. His calloused hands splayed across my back. Grinding myself down against him. I could feel myself getting wetter by the second and quickly got up to go to the bathroom._ _

__I closed the door behind me and put my hands on either side of the sink, looking at myself in the mirror. I splashed a bit of water against my face and took a deep breath. I spent another minute, steading myself against the sink before I made my way back to the couch. Chris looked over to me and smiled when I came back. I pat Max on the back as I sat down and fixated myself on the screen._ _

__“This is one of my favorite movies,” I said softly. I could feel Chris look over at me but my eyes stayed on the screen. “It has one of my all time favorite quotes.” I paused for a moment, trying to remember all the right words. “‘Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough.’”_ _

__“Sometimes that’s not true.” It seemed like Chris mumbled it, but I looked over at him confused because I definitely heard it. “You can wish for something all your life and still never get it.”_ _

__“What did you wish for?” We weren’t whispering but our conversation was very low, almost as if nobody else was allowed to hear it._ _

__He took a deep breath. “I’ve always wished for a family. And somehow I just haven’t found the right person to start one with.”_ _

__“Well clearly you haven’t been looking in the right places.”_ _

__“You think so?”_ _

__“I know so. Otherwise, you would have found her already.”_ _

__He nodded slowly and looked down at Max and then back up towards me. We were in one of our entranced moments again, this time staring at each other. The glow of the tv screen was reflecting off his features as I trailed my eyes down his face. As I got down to his lips that had a little smile on them, my phone interrupted my thoughts and started ringing from the coffee table._ _

__I jumped up and grabbed it, a FaceTime from my mom coming in. My mom hadn’t FaceTimed me in a while so I was concerned and answered it quickly. As I saw her face, I looked to Chris next to me on the couch and got nervous. I wasn’t about to tell my mom that I had a friend over, nevermind a male friend. She would make a huge deal out of it. I got up from the couch and made my way into the kitchen, careful to hold my phone up to the air so that she wouldn’t get a glimpse of the man sitting on my couch._ _

__“Mom?” I said when I was safely in the kitchen, leaning against the island with my phone facing me._ _

__“Hi honey!” My mom said. I laughed because I could only see her from the bottom of her nose to the top of her head because of how she was holding her phone. She had her grey rimmed glasses on which matched the greying of her hair._ _

__“Hi Em!” I heard my dad say and she turned the camera to face him. He was laying in bed next to my mom and I could see that their tv was playing._ _

__“Everything okay?” I questioned, quickly looking over at Chris wondering if he could hear our conversation._ _

__“Oh yeah, I just wanted to see your face honey!” My mom said and I laughed. I missed her so much and it was good to see her face too. “Did you get my birthday card?”_ _

__“I did! Thank you!” I showed her the card that I had magnetized to the fridge._ _

__“And did Mike call you yesterday?” She said with excitement in her voice. I’m sure since she heard about Mike and Olivia’s good news, that was all she could think about._ _

__“Yes! Are you kidding me! I’m gonna be an aunt, it was like the best birthday present ever!” I saw Chris’s head turn over to me when I said that with a curious look on his face. “How much Amazon shopping have you already done?”_ _

__“I’m not telling you out loud so your father doesn’t find out.” She said to me in a hushed tone with a guilty look on her face. It was etched all over her that she was excited for her first grandchild. She had only been pushing both me and Mike for kids since forever. I was happy to be off the hook for a little while. “How has work been?”_ _

__I nodded. “It’s alright. Distance learning is so hard. I don’t think I’m cut out for it. I hope we don’t have to do it for the rest of the year but I think we’re going to.” I sighed and frowned._ _

__“Aw honey. You are such a good teacher, you can do anything. I know you can.”_ _

__“Thanks mom.”_ _

__“So listen, I was talking to your aunt and she was telling me about how Rachel met her boyfriend on this app. It’s called Match. Maybe you should look into it. You couldn’t meet a guy now but at least you could talk to one.” She pushed and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. I looked over to Chris praying he didn’t hear that. “I just checked online they’re having a sale.”_ _

__“Oh my gosh mom.” I shook my head. “I am so not worried about that right now. We’re in a global pandemic.” I was hoping that this would change the topic of conversation._ _

__“Exactly. You’re not getting any younger.”_ _

__I heard Chris laugh and I knew that he could hear the conversation so I groaned. “Mom, unless you have something to say that doesn’t involve dating, I’m hanging up now.”_ _

__“Oh okay, I just wanted to see how you were but you can go. Love you sweetie.”_ _

__“Love you too, mom. Bye.” I hung up the call and hung my head for a minute. “Why does she have to be so embarrassing?” I asked, mostly to myself._ _

__“At least my mom’s not the only one pressuring their child to date.”_ _

__“Well in case you were interested, Match is apparently having a sale.” I laughed and made my way back to the couch. _Peter Pan_ was still playing but I don’t think either one of us had really watched any part of it at this point._ _

__“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did I hear you’re going to be an aunt?” His question immediately brought a smile to my face._ _

__“Yes! My brother called me yesterday and his wife is pregnant!” I leaned my head towards the back of the couch. “I’m so fucking excited.”_ _

__“Man, being an uncle is the best. You can spoil them and then give them back.”_ _

__We both laughed. “You would have known already if you had an Instagram,” I teased him, remembering that I couldn’t find him when I searched his name._ _

__“Everyone keeps saying that but I don’t get the point of it. I can barely keep track of what happens on Twitter.”_ _

__“Instagram is so much better cause you get to see pictures. Twitter is like news and people complaining.”_ _

__“And Instagram is just people boasting about their fake lives,” he challenged._ _

__“Ah, well, touché, Cap.”_ _

__We both turned our attention back towards the screen. I wasn’t sure when it started but I could feel myself drifting off and before I knew it I was asleep._ _

__I wasn’t sure how long it was, but I heard the closing of my front door and it jolted me awake. It took me a second to rub my eyes and remember where I was when I looked to my right and saw Chris taking Max off his leash._ _

__“Good morning sleepy head,” Chris said with a smile. I looked at him slightly confused. “Sorry, Max rang the bell so I took him out. I didn’t want to wake you.”_ _

__I immediately smiled at him and his words tugged on my heart. “Oh, no. Wow, thank you.” I started to get up, but looked down at myself noticing that the blanket that was once on the back of my couch was now laid out over me. I smiled to myself, knowing that I didn’t fall asleep with it on and Chris must have put it on me sometime while I was asleep. “Oh my gosh, it’s ten?!” I exclaimed, looking over at the clock on the stove. “Wow, I wasted most of our night by sleeping.”_ _

__I took the blanket off, and grabbed the empty beer bottles on the coffee table. I walked over to the kitchen to put them in the recycles. Chris grabbed the pizza box and left over popcorn and put them on the island. “No problem. I dozed off a little myself. But then I heard Max ringing the bell.”_ _

__“Thanks Chris.” It felt like I’d been thanking him for more than just taking Max out and helping me clean up, but I would never dare to say anything further. “We should do this again.”_ _

__He nodded and pulled me into a hug, much like the one we had yesterday on my front porch. My arms wrapped around his waist and his around my shoulders. He dropped a kiss to the top of my head saying, “Night Em.” As he left I counted to myself how many times we had said goodnight to each other and how maybe there’d be one day that we didn’t._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris's showing of affection is slowly getting more and more. :D How are you liking this? What do you want/think is going to happen next?


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I spent most of it watching tv on the couch and playing games on my phone. I also spent most of the weekend thinking about Chris. I had to stop myself if I was going to continue being his friend. Every time he was around my skin was hot, there was a permanent blush on my face and butterflies attacked my stomach. I was having an eternal battle with myself over telling him my feelings. 

On one hand, it would let me know how he felt about me and I could get over him, but on the other hand it would make things totally awkward and he was a really great friend. So I was currently having this debate with Tina and Ashlee because it was Monday night and we were having our weekly girls’ night on Zoom.

“I just don’t know guys. I think I would rather be his friend and I don’t want to make things awkward.” I took a sip of my wine.

“Or you could tell him and it would be the most romantic moment of your life,” Ashlee said and I rolled my eyes, sending her a small smile.

“Maybe if he gave me like, a hint that he might like me too. But, until then, I don’t think so.” I sighed. “I’m thirty-three, why does it feel like I’m back in high school?” I laughed.

Tina laughed too. “You got a crush, girl. Doesn’t matter how old you are, the feeling is basically the same.”

After discussing my problems a bit more, Ashlee was now telling us a story about how she was at the grocery store and someone wasn’t wearing their mask and they were breathing down her neck throughout the entire store. Suddenly my doorbell rang. I don’t think I’ve had as much use of this doorbell since quarantine started. Max started barking at the sound of it and jumped off his spot beside me on the couch.

“Hold on, guys. Someone’s at my door.” I put my computer on the arm of the couch and got up, following Max to the door. “Chris?” I asked, confused, when I opened it. I hadn’t texted him all weekend, but he hadn’t texted me either so I wasn’t sure what he was doing here.

“Hi, Em,” he said with a smile and ran a hand over his hair.

“Everything okay?” He looked a little fidgety. He looked just wonderful in his black Adidas joggers and a white t-shirt. I think all his t-shirts were a size too small and he wore them that way on purpose.

“Yeah,” he breathed out. He looked to the ground and back up to me. “I was just wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me.”

It was about 7:00 now, and I was on my second glass of wine for girls’ night. “I would have loved to! But, my friends and I are having girls’ night.” I so badly wanted to say screw my friends and hang out with him, but I didn’t want to be that person that ignored their friends because of a guy.

“Oh, alright. Yeah. Another time, maybe.” He didn’t seem to be acting like himself which was worrying me.

“Chris, are you sure everything’s okay?” I asked again.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “How about tomorrow night?”

“Oh sure!” I smiled at him. “Did you want to get pizza again? Or we could cook something?”

“Why don’t you come over at, say 6? I’ll cook.” He rubbed both his hands together, like he was washing his hands. He seemed really nervous, but I wasn’t going to ask him again if he was okay.

“Great! I’ll see you then,” I said with a smile.

“Sounds good, Em.” He smiled and made his way back to his mom’s house as I closed the door. I looked down to Max and rubbed the top of his head and then made my way back to the couch.

“Sorry guys,” I said as I put the laptop back on my lap.

“Was that Chris? I couldn’t see!” Tina said and I laughed. “What did he want?”

“Yes, it was Chris. He wanted to have dinner with me, but clearly I’m busy.” I giggled.

“Bitch, we would have hung up!” Ashlee yelled at me.

“We’re gonna do it tomorrow.” I laughed and rolled my eyes at them.

“Okay but how did he say it?” Tina questioned. “Like ‘have dinner with me as a date?’ Or ‘have dinner with me as friends?’”

I laughed because what she just said made no sense. “I have no idea! It was just, oh have dinner with me. We had dinner together on Friday, I’m sure it’s no big deal.”

After chatting with my friends for another hour, we all decided to call it a night. I couldn’t stop thinking about Chris’s question and trying to analyze it as Tina had. It didn’t sound like he was saying it as a date. Besides, if he wanted it to be a date I’m sure he would have said the word ‘date.’

As I was looking at myself in the mirror after taking my shower, I thought to myself how Chris could have literally any girl in the world and I’m sure the girl he chose wouldn’t be me. He was handsome, sweet, smart, kind, and literally every positive adjective there was. I’m sure he had millions of women throwing themselves at him. 

That night I watched _Knives Out_ because I guess I just loved to torture myself. Chris was hilarious and definitely my favorite character in the movie. I went to sleep with a smile on my face, just as I had every night since meeting him.

***

The next morning I woke up to the sound of my alarm blaring at 8:00. I went down to the kitchen, made my smoothie and then logged into my Google Classroom. I posted the assignment for the day, a reminder for my office hours at 10:00 and then went out to take Max for a walk.

For some reason, I was walking slower than normal. I didn’t have the usual pep in my step and I couldn’t quite pinpoint why that was. It seemed as though Max was pulling me along our route more than usual. I tried to search my brain for how I was feeling but the words wouldn’t come to me.

We got back to the house and I took my shoes off, leaving them by the door and unhooked Max’s leash. As I bent down, he seemed to tell I was abnormally sad and licked my face, causing me to laugh and pet him.

I would get like this sometimes. It was just another one of those days. I don’t talk about it a lot but I have had anxiety and depression for about 10 years. And there are just those days when I’m not feeling myself, and there’s no reason for it. It literally just happens and that’s okay.

As I was waiting in my office hours, I thought about having dinner with Chris later and smiled. I almost wanted to cancel it because I wasn’t feeling up to it but I really wanted to see him. Even just the thought of him made me smile and picked up my spirits a bit.

“Hi Ms. Barrett!” I smiled when I heard Teddy’s voice. I had been recording the assignments for him and he had been doing a great job getting his assignments done. He tried his best to write down all his thoughts, but he had been recording his answers with his mom. He knew the content really well, we just had to work on his ability to write it down.

“Hi Teddy! How are you?” I readjusted my laptop camera so that he could see me clearer. It looked like he was sitting at his dining room table. 

He gave me a toothy grin and bounced up and down in the chair. “Really good!” He kept his smile going while I heard a door shut and saw him look to the left. I heard the soft voice of his mom asking if he was on my office hours.

“Hi Emily!” His mom came over and waved, and I waved back to her while saying hello. “I cannot thank you enough for all your doing for Teddy. This all seems much more manageable now. He can actually do assignments on his own.”

That made me smile. I would do anything for any of my students. “I’m so glad. Did you talk with his other teachers?” I had sent them an email and also talked with them at our meeting, but I just wanted to see if she had reached out to them and what their response was.

“I did! They are all so lovely. They gave us an online reading program to get him started on which is hopefully going to help.”

“That’s great! He’s going to do just fine! We’re all gonna get through this together.” I laughed. I felt like a corny Disney Channel original movie.

“I seriously cannot thank the school enough. They are doing so much for our family.”

“Well this is a crazy time! So really, we’re happy to do anything we can. Have you been to the food distribution? I’ll be there next week, maybe I’ll get to see you guys!” My school has been giving out food to students in the district every day since the school closure. They give out breakfast and lunch. One of my emails I recently received was asking if there was anyone that could help volunteer and I didn’t have anything better to do so I told them I’d be there next week.

“Oh I’m sure Teddy would love that,” Kelly looked to Teddy who smiled at the camera. He seemed a little shy and I just laughed.

“Teddy, how are you doing with your assignments?”

“Good! My water cycle looks so cool! We keep watching the clouds forming. It’s so fun!” Teddy jumped from his chair and ran off the camera. When he returned he was holding his container that held his water cycle and put it up to the camera so I could see it, even though I had already seen his pictures.

“Oh my goodness, that looks fantastic!” He took the container away from the camera and set it on the table next to him. “I’ve got some really fun experiments coming next week that I think you’re gonna like.”

“I can’t wait!” Teddy fist pumped and made me and his mom laugh.

“We won’t take more of your office hours, but really I just wanted to say thank you so much!” Kelly said.

“It’s no problem at all. It’s literally my job.” I laughed a little and she gave me a look that said I was doing much more than just what my job entailed.

She thanked me once more and then her and Teddy said goodbye to me and Max. Unfortunately, Teddy was the only student that had joined me at my office hours, but I was really glad to hear from him. I was so happy that he was doing much better, and there was a little stress lifted off his mom.

At noon, I closed my laptop and made my way into the kitchen after hearing my stomach growl. I felt the weird sadness feeling again as I looked into the fridge. Although I was hungry, there just wasn’t anything in there that I had wanted to eat. I grabbed an apple and made my way back to the couch. I didn’t really have any interest in doing anything, so I decided to take a short nap before getting ready to head over to Chris’s.

I woke up a short time later feeling a bit better than I had previously but I still couldn’t shake myself out of this funk. I made my way into my room and opened my closet, looking at my options for what to wear. I grabbed out a pair of dark wash jeans and one of my favorite purple v-neck wrap tops. I quickly dressed and pulled on a pair of white canvas Vans. I clasped two gold bracelets around my wrist and pulled on a gold chain necklace. 

I made my way into the bathroom and brushed out my hair, parting it to the side and then put on a bit of mascara and some lip gloss. I looked at my appearance and shrugged. If I didn’t feel that great, at least I looked good.

“Hey Maxy, crate time!” I said to him when I made my way back to the living room. Max loved his crate but I only put him in it if I had to leave for a little bit. During the school day, he was usually in doggy day care. Unfortunately it was closed because of quarantine so he had been missing some of his friends lately. I plucked a treat from the jar on my counter as he settled himself into his crate. “Bye boy,” I said as I fed him the treat. “Wish me luck!”

I took my purse off the counter and made my way out the door. I locked my house and walked a few steps over to Lisa’s. I noticed that Lisa’s car wasn’t in the driveway as I rang the doorbell. I heard Dodger start to bark and could hear Chris laughing at him as he made his way over to the door. “Hey Em,” Chris said as he let me in. He was wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon in his hand. As I stepped in the house, he closed the door behind me and wrapped me in a hug. I gave him a small smile and he led me towards the kitchen.

Just like mine, there was a huge island in the middle of the kitchen that had stools on one side of it. There were a few pots on the stove and a salad in a bowl on the island. As we passed the dining room table, I saw that Chris had set it with two plates for us. The smell wafting through the house was absolutely delicious. I set my purse down on one of the stools at the island and sat down. “It smells so good.”

Chris stirred something on the stove and looked back at me with a smile. “It’s my mom’s recipe so I hope I do it right.”

“Where is she?” I wondered. It didn’t sound like there was anyone else in the house, except Dodger who was currently making himself cozy at his Dad’s feet.

“She and Scott are at Carly’s.” I nodded. “My mom’s been spending so much time here, she said she had to get out for a bit.” I watched Chris grab a platter from one of the cupboards as the stove beeped. When he opened it and the smell made its way into the kitchen, I realized how hungry I was and that I hadn’t eaten all day.

“That smells so good, I’m starving.” I was feeling much better in his presence than I had been at home by myself, but that weird, sad feeling was still looming over me.

I looked down and saw a loose thread on the end of my shirt that I started to fixate on. I pulled on it and bit my bottom lip. “You okay Em?” I looked up to see Chris placing a few chicken breasts, that looked like they’d been stuffed with something, on to the platter.

“Yeah,” I brushed it off and rested my elbow on the table, leaning my head into my hand. Chris gave me a look but then turned back to the stove, turning off the heat. He grabbed a few bowls from a shelf and started piling the contents from the stove into them. One was being filled with rice, while he filled the other with carrots. Everything looked so good, I was excited. He brought all the plates to the table and we moved our way over to the table to sit. “This looks great Chris.”

He smiled. “It’s spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken breast, rice, and carrots. I wasn’t sure what you liked but this was always one of my favorites growing up, and also one of the only ones I know how to make.” I laughed with him, and he gave me another look. “Are you sure everything’s okay?” 

I started scooping some rice onto my plate. I used my fork to grab one of the chicken breasts off the platter and onto my plate. I did the same with a few carrots. I felt Chris eyeing me as I did so. After pushing a carrot on my plate I sighed. “I’m sorry. I thought it wouldn’t affect me so much but it has.” I rubbed my eyes deciding how I was going to bridge this subject. There were only a handful of people that knew about my anxiety and depression. I remembered back to our conversation at Walden Pond when Chris told me about his anxiety, hoping that he would understand.

I looked up to him and he had a concerned look on his face. I shook my head. This is definitely not where I thought tonight would go and yet, here we were.

“I’m just having one of those days.” I started and Chris’s face scrunched in confusion. “Where you don’t want to do anything, and just feel like laying in bed?” I tried, hoping he would understand a little more. He nodded his head like he was understanding, but he still looked confused. I looked down to the floor, and back up to him. Looking into his eyes gave me the confidence I needed. He made me feel fearless. I could tell him anything. “I have anxiety and depression. I have since I was 20. I take medicine, but there’s still those days when the depression wins.”

His face softened and he reached across the table to hold his hand in mine. He smiled at me when he did. “What can I do? You didn’t have to come tonight.”

I shook my head. “I wanted to. You make me feel better. Just be you Chris, that’s what you can do.” 

We got quiet for a minute as we started to eat. “How was work today?” Chris asked. I loved when he asked me that because he always seemed genuinely interested. He took a bite of his chicken.

“It was good,” I said after swallowing a bite full of food. “The boy I told you about, Teddy, who was having trouble with his reading, came to my office hours and said he’s been doing really good with his classes. Which was super exciting.”

“That’s great!” 

I nodded. “Yeah. And I’m volunteering at the food distribution site next week so hopefully I’ll get to see him and his family for a bit.”

“That’s awesome, Em. You’re a great teacher, the kids must love you.”

I blushed and thanked him, but then asked him what he had been up to. “What have you been up to today? Working?”

“Not much work to do today. I had a script to read that I might be directing, and I got a work out in which I haven’t done in a while so that felt good.”

“Oh, Cap’s getting soft?” I joked. He flicked a piece of rice towards me. “Don’t start something you know you can’t finish.” He hummed in response and raised his eyebrows suggestively. The butterflies danced in my stomach at his response. “Do you think you’ll do the script?”

“I’m not sure. Gotta weigh my options. And who knows when we can get back to filming things.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see what you’ll direct. I’m sure it’ll be amazing.” I ate another piece of chicken and almost moaned in my mouth how good it was. “I’m jealous. You’re such a good cook. I can’t cook for shit.”

“You made a mean bowl of popcorn.”

“Oh yeah. I can do popcorn, cereal, mac and cheese, sandwiches, pasta salad, anything that doesn’t involve the oven. I always burn things. One time a co-worker had a Christmas cookie swap party and I burned all the cookies I made and was so embarrassed I told them I got sick and couldn’t go.” I laughed. “I couldn’t just show up with nothing!”

Chris and I laughed together harmoniously. This felt like such a natural thing to do. Eating dinner and talking about our day, telling stories together. I could do it forever.

After dinner, Chris cleared our plates and brought out a chocolate pie. He brought it over to the table with two smaller plates and a knife. “My goodness, you bake too? And no one’s wifed you up yet?!” I couldn’t believe this perfect man was single.

Chris laughed and set the pie down on the table. He served us each a piece. It was fantastic, but then I’m sure that anything Chris touched immediately turned to gold.

“You’re never getting rid of me now that I know you can make all this fantastic food.” 

“Didn’t think I was getting rid of you anyways, Em.”

“Good,” I smiled and ate another bite. 

Chris and I were now moving around the kitchen together, cleaning up the dishes from dinner. The sun was setting, it was getting later and later nowadays. I wasn’t objecting, I loved the summer. I grabbed one of the plates from the island and turned around to place it in the dishwasher, when I bumped into Chris.

My hands collided with his chest, and I looked up at him to apologize when I saw him staring down at me. Our magnetic pull was there once again. We were so close that I could feel his hot breath on my face which sent a shiver down my spine. I watched him look towards my lips then back into my eyes. We were going to kiss and I wanted nothing more than to touch his lips. I stood on my tippy toes, tilting my head towards him when I heard Dodger barking and the front door opening.

“Hi Dodger!” I heard Lisa say. I could hear the faint sound of Scott laughing and Chris and I immediately pulled away from each other. I dropped the plate into the dishwasher and quickly rested my hands against the counter. “Chris?” Lisa questioned.

“Kitchen,” he said back, looking directly at me. I looked down, avoiding his gaze.

“Oh hi Emily!” Lisa said enthusiastically when she stepped into the dining room, seeing me standing at the island.

“Hi Lisa!” I mumbled, trying to put as much space between Chris and I as I could. “Hi Scott,” I said when I saw him.

“Any leftovers for me?” He questioned making his way over to the fridge.

“Nice to see you guys but, I should probably go check on Max now,” I grabbed my purse and made my way by Chris and Lisa. “Thanks for having me Chris! Good to see you Lisa! Scott!” I called as I made my way out the door. I pretty much ran to my house, threw the front door open and leaned against it after it closed. I took a moment to steady my breathing and watched Max go crazy in his crate. I wasn’t lying when I said I needed to check on him, but I couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough.

Chris and I were about to kiss. If Lisa and Scott hadn’t interrupted us we would have kissed. I am sure of it. The way we were leaning towards each other. I could feel his breath on my mouth. He had even done the typical movie look where you look at the person’s lips, then their eyes, and then back to their lips. I definitely did not imagine that.

I set my purse down on the island and went over to Max’s crate, letting him out. “He was gonna kiss me, Max. What would I have done if he did?” I asked him as he ran to the front door, begging to go out. It was about 8:30 now and he’d been cooped up in his crate for a while. I clipped his leash to his collar and let him outside. I was secretly hoping that Chris was going to run after me and show up at my door but, he didn’t.

After bringing Max inside and taking his leash off, I watched him make his way into my bedroom, taking himself to bed. He was probably mad at me for leaving him in his crate for so long. I followed him, changing into some yoga pants and a green t-shirt. My mind was so wired that I wasn’t going to get to sleep any time soon, so I poured myself a glass of wine, grabbed the blanket sitting on the back of my couch and stepped out to sit on my back patio.

It was a nice night, a bit chilly, so I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. I took a sip of my wine and looked up at the stars. I took a deep breath and it seemed to calm myself for a minute. A few seconds later, I heard Lisa’s back door open and watched a figure step out onto the back patio. My skin immediately became hot because I knew exactly who it was. He had a beer in his hand and he set it down on the table as he sat down.

We seemed to have a staring contest in the dark. There was so much left unsaid between us that needed to be cleared up. But I didn’t know how to do it. I saw his phone light up so I decided to grab mine and send him a text.

 _Hi._ I looked over to him after sending the message. I could barely see him because the only light out tonight was the moon.

I saw him look at his phone, over to me, and then at his phone again. I saw his fingers type and saw the message a few seconds later. _Hi._

 _Sorry I ran off before._ My heart was beating so fast. I knew that we both knew what was going to happen in the kitchen before his mom interrupted it. I just don’t know if he knew how badly I wanted it to happen and that’s why I ran away.

 _It’s okay._ I saw his shadow look over towards me. He had a beer in his hands and he took a sip of it. Even though I couldn’t see him because it was dark out, I could feel his eyes staring at me.

 _It’s not._ I took a deep breath. I don’t know what it was about Chris but he made me feel brave. Especially after the conversation we had tonight. I felt like I was baring my soul to him and I wanted to give him everything. No more holding back. I sent him another message and watched his screen light up. _Are we going to talk about it?_

 _Talk about what?_ I gave him a look that I hoped he could see. I stopped for a moment. Did he really not feel what was about to happen? The heat radiating off my skin? How I tilted my head towards him? Grabbed his shoulders to steady myself? Had he really not seen it the same way I did?

 _What happened in the kitchen._ I knew I was looking him dead in the eye now. I was playing with fire and I desperately wanted to get burned. If it was by him, I would be burned over and over again.

Even in the dark I saw him tilt his head to the side and then look down. He took a long sip of his beer. I watched his fingers tap over his phone. The three dots kept appearing and disappearing. He didn’t know what to say. The three dots stopped again so I decided to be the bold one here.

 _I want a do-over._ I said and put my phone down on the table in front of me so fast, as if it shocked me.

 _What?_ His response was fast and my breathing was becoming uneven. I was actually doing this. I was actually going for it. I don’t know what came over me. Instead of texting, I took my phone and went inside my house, hoping that he would get the hint and follow me. As I set my wine glass on the counter, there was a knock on the door and I thought I was going to throw up. My heart beat was so deep it felt like my head was throbbing.

I opened the door and Chris was leaning into it with one hand on each side of the door frame. “Hi,” I said to him with a small smile.

“Hi,” he said back and returned my smile.

Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my face and placed the softest of kisses to my mouth. My insides exploded. It was the most delicate kiss I had ever had and already every part of me felt like it was on fire. We pulled back from each other and looked into each other’s eyes. His blueish-green eyes were filled with a dark desire that made me weak in the knees.

His lips attached to mine again as he walked me backwards into my house, closing the door behind him. He pushed me against the wall, continuing his attack on my mouth. I had never had a better kiss in my life. His lips were soft and supple and moved gracefully against mine. His tongue darted out and licked my lips, asking for permission to ravage my tongue and I happily obliged. I couldn’t ignore the deep throbbing in my core that was happening just from him kissing me.

I felt his hands move from my face to my hips as he grabbed them. My shirt had moved up a bit and his fingers were now touching my skin, causing goosebumps to form. His upper body was pushing me more against the wall and it felt absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t even explain it. I parted my legs slightly so that he could fit himself between them and be even closer to me. 

He moved his mouth from my lips only to attach them to my neck. I gasped and titled my head back, offering him better access to it. I could slowly feel his erection growing underneath me and I almost thought I would cry knowing that he desired me just as much as I did him.

When he returned his mouth to mine, he grabbed onto the back of my legs and lifted me up. I locked my ankles together around his waist as he expertly navigated us towards the couch. He sat us down and I straddled his lap, one of my knees on either side of him. I wrapped my hands together behind his neck as we continued making out.

Suddenly, I felt Max jump up on the couch and start trying to weasel his way between Chris and I. I started laughing as Chris tried to push him away, our mouths still attached to each other. I gave him one last kiss before pulling away and laughing as Max sat down, panting at the two of us.

“Max, what a cockblock dude,” Chris said which made us both laugh.

“No, it’s okay. We should slow down,” I said trying to get my heart rate back to a normal speed. I didn’t want to stop kissing him but I might have a heart attack if I didn’t.

I climbed off his lap and sat next to him on the couch. I looked over at him and smiled. His lips were a bit swollen and a bright pink color. His breathing was a bit heavier than normal and it made me bite my lip that I had that effect on him.

He got up off the couch and called Max to come with him. He brought him down the hallway, presumably to my room, and closed the door behind him. I watched him walk back to the couch and he sat down in the same spot as before.

We made eye contact with each other and laughed. It didn’t feel awkward at all, which made me smile. “Um, yeah, so that happened,” I said which made me laugh even more. I hid my face in my hands.

“Em,” Chris said seriously and I opened my hands just enough to look at him. He pulled on my wrists so that my hands fell from my face. “Is that the do-over you wanted?” I shyly nodded my head. “Oh, don’t go all shy on me now baby girl.” _Oh shit._ I could probably orgasm just from hearing him call me “baby girl.”

He pulled me up and sat me back down on his lap. I was facing him and placed one hand on each of his shoulders. I was looking directly in his eyes and my insides fluttered as he stared back at me. “I have a confession to make,” I said with a small voice and if we were any farther apart, he wouldn’t have heard it. He cocked his eyebrow towards me as I felt his hands rubbing up and down the sides of my legs. “I’ve been marathoning all your movies since I met you.” I didn’t want him to think I was being a creep but I was really interested in what he did and he was so good that I wanted to watch everything.

He threw his head back and laughed. I loved listening to his laugh. Especially in our current position. He placed a chaste kiss to my lips and made my heart rate pick up again. “My turn?” he asked, sounding like he wanted to check that I wanted to hear a confession he had. “I love when you call me Cap.” His voice was deep and sultry and I felt a twinge between my legs.

“Chris,” I whimpered. This time I was the one to press my mouth to his. He greedily accepted it and in between kisses I said, “I’ve had a crush on you for a while now.”

“I wanted to kiss you since the day my mom introduced us.” This time his voice was breathy, coming out between our kisses. I grinded my hips against his and we both moaned together. I had never desired a man this deeply and kissing him felt like heaven on Earth. I pushed myself up on my knees a bit when he began to speak again. “I can’t stand when you wear these pants.” His hands were cupping my ass and pulling me against him. “The site of your ass makes me go weak.”

I moaned against him at his words. His hands were trailing their way up my sides, pulling my shirt up as he went. His fingers were just below my bra and I pulled away from him a bit, feeling flustered, but not wanting too much too fast. His mouth followed mine, leaving kisses on my lips as I said his name. I finally got far enough away from him that he couldn’t reach me anymore. “Chris,” I laughed. He dropped his hands to rest them on my legs, just below the curve of my backside. I could feel his fingers dancing over the fabric of my yoga pants. “This is wonderful,” I breathed and he smiled. “But I don’t want to go too fast.”

He nodded. “I really like you, Em.”

“I really like you too.” I felt the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

“I don’t want to mess this up.”

I got up off his lap and sat down next to him. “Well we better get this out of the way right now. If you’re not a cuddler this won’t work.”

“Oh I’m the best cuddler,” Chris propped his feet up on the table and lifted his left arm so I could snuggle myself next to him. After I did, he wrapped his arm around me and I intertwined our hands together. I felt him lean over to kiss the top of my forehead. “I have another confession. Tonight was supposed to be a date.”

I looked up at him, shocked. He never said that it was going to be a date. “What?”

“I thought you knew by me asking you to dinner but I guess I wasn’t clear enough,” he laughed.

“I am such an idiot.”

“It’s okay. It worked out in the end.” He ran his fingers up the side of my arm and wiggled his eyebrows at me, causing me to laugh. “And now I can take you on a proper date.”

“We’re in quarantine, where are we gonna go?”

“Just say yes Em.”

“Yes.” I looked up to him and smiled and he dropped a kiss to my lips. I leaned over to the coffee table and grabbed the remote. I turned on the tv to _The Office_ , and Chris didn’t object. After watching tv and a few more stolen kisses, we drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had so many other versions of this chapter written but this just felt like the next logical step in their story. My mind kept going back to this. Hehehehe, I hope you enjoy!! Tell me your thoughts! What do you think will happen next?!


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up to the sun shining through my windows. I wiped my eyes and blinked them a few times so they could adjust, and I realized where I was. Laying on my couch with a beautiful man laying next to me. And last night we kissed. A lot.

I looked up to Chris who still had his eyes closed. I admired his face, and found myself envious of his eyelashes. They were long, beautiful whisps on his cheeks. I smiled as I looked at the rest of his face. This was actually real. His hand was still wrapped around my side, just as it was when we fell asleep. Although it pained me, I knew Max would want to go out so I pulled myself away from him, stopping a moment to watch Chris on my couch before going to my room to get Max.

I looked at the time on the stove and it read 8:42. I slept in but I only felt a little bad about it. I opened my bedroom door and saw Max’s head jump up from his spot on my bed. I laughed at him, scolding him silently in my mind. But not really, I was doing much better things last night than making sure he slept in his own bed.

Max and I walked to the front door and I attached his leash to his collar, taking him outside. “We’ll go on a walk later, Maxy, okay?” I asked as he looked towards me with a dirty look. “Oh come on, Max. I’m sure I can convince Chris to let Dodger come too?” I bargained with him. He walked up the steps to the front door and I took that as his agreement. After locking my door, and letting Max off his leash, I walked back over to the couch and picked up my phone.

“Morning,” I heard Chris say in a raspy morning voice. I looked towards him with a smile and he smiled back at me.

“Hi.” The blush was creeping itself back up to my face. I opened a message from my group chat that read _How was dinner??_ I had received it from Ashlee last night and Tina had liked it, wanting a report. I smirked to myself. I’ll talk to them later.

I hadn’t noticed that Chris had gotten up off the couch until I felt his arms wrap around me. He placed a kiss on my temple and my heart fluttered against my chest. I pinched myself just to make sure it was real. He went down the hall to the bathroom and I smiled to myself how he seemed to make himself at home. My heart jumped at how right it felt.

I sat down on a stool at my island. “Do you want some breakfast?” I asked as he came out of the bathroom.

“Sure, what you got?” He opened the fridge to poke around. “Eggs and bacon?” He questioned, pulling them out of the fridge.

It was then that I realized in all the years of my adult life, this had never happened before. I had never had a man poke around in my fridge to see what we could have for breakfast. I had never strayed from my daily routine. I had been living on my own since graduating college at 21. Kevin and I didn’t even live together during our year long relationship. And I didn’t want to say out loud how fucking good it felt to not be alone. “Em?”

“Oh sorry, yeah. That sounds good. Sorry.” I shook my head and Chris cocked an eyebrow at me, closing the fridge.

He put the ingredients down on the stove and came over to me, grabbing my hands to pull me off my stool. “I didn’t get a proper good morning.” I bit my lip and tried to hide my face from him in his shoulder. He lifted my chin up to his face. “You’re fucking adorable.” He placed a small kiss to my mouth and I could have died right there. If I died kissing Chris, I would die a happy woman.

I grabbed a pan out of the cabinet and handed it to Chris who started cracking eggs. “I haven’t done this in a while.”

“Had breakfast?” he said with a smile.

“Had someone else in my house,” I corrected him with a small laugh. “Feels nice,” I mumbled, half hoping that he wouldn’t hear me. He turned around and smiled at me, which didn’t clue me in as to if he heard me or not and I still couldn’t tell if I wanted him to.

I grabbed Max’s food bowl and placed it on the island while I went to grab his kibbles for breakfast. “You know, you’re messing with my routine.”

“Oh am I?” Chris asked. He had put the bacon in a pan with some olive oil from a cabinet I showed him and it smelled delicious. My mouth was watering, although it may have been more over the chef than the food.

“Yeah, I should be finishing breakfast and taking Max on a walk by now. You made me wake up late.” I poured Max’s food into the bowl and put it down next to his water dish, smiling as he ran over to devour it.

“I don’t know if it was just my fault, Em. I didn’t hear any complaints from you.”

Oh my god. I think Chris’s job in life was to embarrass me. I wasn’t used to this level of teasing. I poked him on his bicep as I walked by him to put Max’s food away. I stuck my tongue out at him when he looked over to me. “Is that an invitation?”

I burst out in laughter at this moment. His fliration was killing my insides and I didn’t know how to respond to it. It seemed as though he kissed me and I forgot what to do. It was one thing when I was lusting over him silently to myself, but now he was lusting back and being vocal about it.

He dropped the spatula next to the stove and made his way over to me. He wrapped his hands around my waist, with one hand slipping down to grab a fistful of my butt. He parted his lips just a bit, leaning in towards me. His face was just far enough away that I couldn’t capture his lips. He smirked. “Are you embarrassed about kissing me, Em?” His voice was low and his breath hit my face with every word. I could feel my nipples getting hard with every breath that hit my face and I secretly hoped that he wouldn’t be able to see it.

He leaned closer and I sucked in a hard breath, shaking my head. He was close enough that I could lean into his mouth but I knew he wouldn’t do anything until I told him. “Please,” I mewled.

Our lips just barely touched and I could feel the fire in my belly, a sting of pleasure flowing up my spine. “Say it baby girl. What do you want?” He used the nickname from last night that almost made me come.

“Kiss me. Please, Cap.” Two can play at that game. He immediately captured my lips. He picked me up and sat me down on the island so that he didn’t have to dip his head so low to kiss me. I opened my legs so that he could stand between them and he grabbed behind my knees, sliding me closer to him so I was sitting just on the edge of the counter.

His tongue took over my mouth and I could feel Chris smirk against my lips. Chris broke our kiss to turn around attending to the bacon that I forgot was cooking on the stove. My breathing was heavy and after taking a few breaths, I hopped off the counter and got out two plates and forks for us.

Chris divided the eggs and bacon up and placed them on the island. “Coffee?” I asked, grabbing a k-cup to make myself a cup. He nodded his head, so I grabbed another cup for him. I put cream and sugar on the island because I wasn’t sure how he liked his coffee and sat down next to him to start eating.

The food was so delicious, I moaned in delight while breaking off a piece of bacon to eat. “Why is food always better when someone else makes it?” This is true and I stand by it. Every time someone else makes food, it always tastes better. Maybe it was the fact that you didn’t spend all your time making it, or maybe it was just because I was a bad cook. I wasn’t sure. “If you keep making delicious food for me, I’m never leaving you.”

“It’s just the food you like?” He said suggestively which brought the blush back to my cheeks. I pressed my lips together and looked away from him and he chuckled. “Em, it’s okay to like kissing. I like kissing you.”

I took another piece of bacon in my mouth to pause for a moment so I could collect my thoughts. “I’ve never had someone tell me that before.” I fiddled with my fingers. Part of the reason that Kevin and I fell apart was because we just had sex and that was it. And it was so boring. It never felt like something that I wanted to do, but something that we just had to do. There wasn’t any making out, foreplay, and he definitely never told me he liked kissing me. And there definitely wasn’t any demand to know what I wanted as Chris had done. And that was one of the hottest moments of my life. 

“Well that’s a shame because I really fucking like kissing you. And I’m gonna keep saying so. And I want to do it more if you’ll let me.”

I nodded my head and just said, “Yeah.” We smiled at each other and laughed. I still had the blush on my cheeks but this time I didn’t look away. I kept telling myself to remember the daring girl that texted him last night.

Together, we washed the dishes from breakfast and set them away in the dishwasher. Chris had to go back to his mom’s house to check on Dodger, but didn’t leave without a goodbye at the front door which involved some tongue action. I couldn’t get enough of kissing him.

Chris left and I grabbed my laptop, feeling guilty that I hadn’t started working earlier this morning. I logged into my Google Classroom and replied to some of the comments that my students left. I had a team meeting at 1:00, so there was time for me to take a shower and feel more put together for the meeting.

I grabbed my phone off the table, taking some time to send a cheeky reply to Tina and Ashlee. _Dinner was great, and it may have turned into breakfast this morning._ I sent a winking emoji along with it and was immediately met with a plethora of gifs of shocked faces. 

_BITCH DETAILS_ , Tina replied. 

While I wanted to tell them, I also felt a little selfish and wanted to keep Chris to myself for as long as I could. I decided upon the best reply that would give them just enough with still an air of suspicion. _I don’t kiss and tell._

I laughed when their string of texts came through, telling me that they needed details, asked if he was a good kisser, and if anything other than kissing happened. I said, _Not sure when but we’re going on a date. Gonna need wardrobe help!_

I abandoned my phone on the table and went into the bathroom to get a quick shower in before my team meeting with the teachers at school. I looked at myself in the mirror, noticing the pinkness in my cheeks and the red sheen over my lips and smiled. Chris was making something come alive in me and I couldn’t say I didn’t like it.

After getting out of the shower, I went into my room to get dressed for the day in yoga pants and a t-shirt. As I was leaving my room to head back to my laptop, I saw a small notebook on my dresser and brought it with me so that I could write down a to-do list. I always felt better with things written out and being able to cross things off the list was always satisfying.

The first thing that I wrote was “Film science experiments.” I had plans to post some really easy science experiments that kids could do at home. I found a really fun one where you could make drawings float in water. Number two on my list was “Create Kahoot game.” Keeping my word, my class was going to have their second Kahoot game on Friday to go over what we learned this week. I already had a lot of kids emailing me saying they were excited to join. Next on my list was grocery shopping and I put down a few things that I would know I needed. I then wrote down “vacuum” because I would probably do that when I got up and it would be easy to cross it off.

When I got up off the couch, I heard my text message notification going off. I retrieved my phone from the coffee table and went to the hallway closet to get the vacuum. Upon seeing Chris’s name on my phone, a smile made its way to my lips. He sent a picture of Dodger, sitting on the couch and looking back at him. Accompanied with it was the text, _I think he’s mad at me for skipping out on him last night._

Before I could type a response he sent another text, _I explained to him that I was with you and I think he’s okay. Dodge has a soft spot for you._

_Aw, I love you Dodgey boy! We’ll have to make it up to him!_ I put my phone in my back pocket and plugged the vacuum in, running it over the carpet in the living room. My house was mostly all hardwood floors, but I had a rug in the living room that was soft and I was a stickler about keeping clean.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I finished up vacuuming, wrapped up the cord and put it back into the closet. I took my phone from my pocket and unlocked it to look at Chris’s text. _He’ll get his turn. I don’t want to keep sharing you._

There goes the butterflies in my stomach. I think by this time, my stomach was getting sick of me. This reminded me of what happened last night with Max and how Chris shunned him to my room because he interrupted us. My neck was hot while the blush started forming there. While I hated it and knew I needed to work on it, I was much more courageous over text so I sent, _When’s our date then?_

_How does Saturday sound? I’ll be by to pick you up at 2._ I really liked how it seemed as though he had it all planned. I was so okay with letting him take charge and following him around like a lost puppy.

_Sounds wonderful_ , I sent back with a smiley face emoji. I placed my phone back on the coffee table, and grabbed my laptop, placing it back on my lap and losing myself in distancing learning research to help me how to survive the rest of this.

Before my meeting at 1:00, I was able to cross “vacuuming” and “create Kahoot game” off my to-do list. That made me feel great, because fifty percent of my list had already been completed. I was currently waiting in Zoom, ready for the other teachers to join. 

The first to join was one of my favorite co-workers, Valerie. She was a little older, married with three kids, and she taught social studies. She had been at the school before I got there, but has become one of my closest friends during my time there. Valerie took me under her wing and became my mentor in my first year, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have her.

“Valerie!” I shouted when I saw her face. “Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in forever it feels like!”

“I know, how are you?” She asked as her cat walked across the screen and she shooed him out of the way, making me laugh.

“I can’t stand this. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, having to teach and make sure your kids do their work!”

He sighed and shook her head. “Let me tell ya, I am counting down the days until retirement. I’m trying to ask HR if you can retire at 48.”

I laughed as Josh, our math teacher joined our meeting. As he was saying hello to Valerie, I took my time to look at Josh and kind of laughed to myself. I thought he was really handsome, but he had nothing on Chris. They were in two different categories.

“Hi Josh! How’s quarantine going?”

“Oh you know. I think my yard is going to look the best it ever has.” 

Once everyone else signed on to our meeting, we started. In addition to Valerie and Josh, my team also consisted of Cara, the English teacher, Heather, the Special Education teacher, and Oliver, the ESL teacher. 

We discussed our assignments and how much work we should be giving going forward. We decided that each of us were going to post at 9:00 every day so the students would have consistency. We also decided that we would send emails to check in and keep up with the mental health of the students in our homeroom. We even made a plan for how to go about students that hadn’t even logged on yet, deciding upon a point system for students that completed their work everyday. At the end of distance learning, students would get to redeem their points for extra special activities. I had mixed feelings on incentives, but since most of the team agreed, I went along with it.

“Wanna go for a walk now Maxy?” I said to him as I closed my laptop. He hopped up off the couch and ran over to the front door. “Oh yeah, you’re excited.” I attached his leash to his collar and we were off. 

Max took a left and started on our walk, going over to Lisa’s house first as we normally had. I made it a point to linger a little bit longer by her house so that I’d be there if Chris were to make an appearance outside. My ears perked up at the sound of the front door opening, but it was just Lisa walking out with a watering can in her hand. “Hi Emily! Hi Max!” Lisa waved over to us, walking through her front lawn, down to the flowers that were lining the edge of it.

“Hi Lisa!” I said. I all of a sudden remembered that she must have been home when Chris didn’t come home last night and when he returned this morning. I suddenly felt nervous because she must have known that we were up to something.

I pulled Max’s collar a bit so that he would know I wanted to get out of there, but he pulled back on me, smelling in this one spot. I silently cursed him because he never listened to me when I really needed him to.

“Emily,” Lisa said, watering her plants and not looking at me. “I just want to say, I think you’re lovely. Don’t be put off by my son. He can be a bit pushy and do too much too fast.”

Oh gosh, she knows. I should have known Chris would have told her something. “Oh.” She looked up to me and smiled. “Yeah, okay.”

“He needs someone like you.” She winked at me, turned around and walked back up to her porch to water the flowers that were there. 

Finally, Max left Lisa’s yard and we went on the rest of our walk. I wasn’t sure what to think of Lisa’s comment that Chris needs someone like me. I mean, I think that it was a good thing. But I wasn’t sure how much Chris had told her or how much Lisa knew about me. I didn’t even know how much Chris really knew about me. The only thing I knew was that I wanted him to know more.

***

The rest of the week went by so fast because I was so busy. I was filming science experiments, having online classes, Kahoot games, faculty meetings, and creating schedules for classroom cleanouts.

We had gotten the official word that we wouldn’t be going back to school before the end of the year. That had made me incredibly sad. When I found it out, I texted Chris with the news and a sad emoji. He sent me back a simple, “sorry Em” and asked if I wanted him to come over and we could cuddle. While I really wanted that to happen, I was so busy that I had to decline. I bought postcards to send to all my students and I wanted to get them finished and sent out by the end of the week.

I was currently on Zoom with Tina and Ashlee trying to figure out what to wear on my date with Chris. It was about noon on Saturday and I had already had breakfast, taken Max on a walk and had a shower. I was now rifling through my closet, holding up outfits for Tina and Ashlee to veto.

“This?” I held up a navy blue polka dotted t-shirt to the camera. Tina and Ashlee both shook their heads and I hung the shirt back up in my closet. “I don’t even know what we’re doing. Do I go dress? Or jeans and a cute shirt?”

“Did he say anything about what you’re doing?” Tina was playing with the cord to her headphones, continuously wrapping them around her finger.

I shook my head. “No, just that he’s picking me up at 2.”

“I say dress but keep it casual like a jean jacket and sneakers or something.” I went back over to my closet and started looking at some of the dresses that I had. “And make it low cut.”

“Ashlee,” I scolded, rolling my eyes and laughing.

“Emily, we’ve had far too many drunken nights to know you’re not freaky. Embrace it.”

My head fell back in laughter. Leave it to Ashlee to call me out on my shit. We had several drunken nights where we talked about fantasies. But, just because I talked about wanting to be taken up against a wall or restrained with handcuffs while being talked dirty to didn’t mean I wasn’t any shyer about it actually happening.

“How about this?” I showed them an emerald green swing dress. It had spaghetti straps and was cinched at the waist. When I looked at my friends, Steve walked by the camera, gave Tina a drink and kissed her on the head before walking away. “Hi Steve!” I shouted. I saw him turn and give me a smile and a wave before walking out of the frame.

“Ooh, I like that one!” Tina said, taking a sip of water.

“I agree! White sneakers. Dark blue jean jacket. Gold jewelry. Curl your hair.” Ashlee demanded making Tina and I laugh.

“Yes ma’am,” I obliged. I threw the dress on my bed and walked over to my desk where I had poured out all of my makeup. I moved my laptop so I had more room to work with, but where Tina and Ashlee could still see me. I picked up one of my makeup brushes when I said, “Guys, I’m so nervous.”

“You’ve already kissed him, you know he likes you. What are you nervous about?” Tina inquired, incredulously. 

I sighed, slowing the movements of my brush and looking at them. “I’ve never had someone so interested in me and vocal about it. I mean, I had my first date in my twenties and I didn’t lose my virginity until twenty-seven! And like, what if I don’t live up to what he wants.”

“Just because you haven’t had guys who were vocally interested in you doesn’t mean that it’s completely impossible.” Ashlee gave me a knowing look through the camera. “And don’t you dare hold yourself that because of it. You are a fucking superstar. Hot, smart, funny, and you have a golden heart. Girl, if I wasn’t so into men I would probably marry you.”

I laughed and smiled at her. “Thanks, you’re right.”

“And if you’re not everything he’s dreamed of then that’s his loss. You’ll find someone that’s perfect for you. But like Ashlee said, don’t let this go by because you’re scared. Just because the only love you had wasn’t the best, doesn’t mean they’re all like that.”

“Didn’t he already tell you he liked you?” I laughed. So I may have given them some more details into our night together, but definitely only the PG version.

“Yeah,” I looked away from the camera. I tried to busy myself with my makeup. I’m not sure why, because I didn’t wear much so it wasn’t going to take long. I picked up the tinted moisturizer and squeezed a bit onto my brush.

“See! Don’t do that! Don’t turn away like you can’t believe it. Emily, you’re hot shit. Someone’s finally seeing that. Let him.” Tina pointed into the camera at me and then wagged her finger at me.

I was immediately brought back to when I was in my twenties and freshly diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I thought about the therapist that I had at the time and all the time we spent getting me to believe that I was worth it and love myself. I thought about how mad at me she would be if she could see me now. I remember the mantra I would say to myself. You are beautiful. You are you. You are enough.

“I love you guys. I am some hot shit. He’s the lucky one here.” I brushed the makeup on my cheeks and then added, “But I’m really fucking lucky because holy shit he’s amazing.”

The three of us laughed together. After a bit more of a pep talk, thanking them profusely and numerous reminders to be open (in more ways than one Ashlee says), we left our zoom call.

My makeup was finished and I was still nervous about what to wear. I looked at the weather, knowing that if we were outside I would be warm enough in the low sixties temperature, but was still concerned with what we would be doing. After throwing it around in my mind, I decided to wear the dress because I would feel comfortable and cute, but still wear my sneakers in case we were doing some walking.

I plugged my curler into the outlet and let it heat up on my desk. While it heated up, I took my dark blue jean jacket out of my closet and set it on my bed with my dress. I then went into my dresser to get some underwear. I decided to go with a matching nude lacy set. It wasn’t that I thought the night would end with Chris seeing it, I knew it would give me confidence and make me feel sexy. Women don’t always dress for a man’s benefit.

I sat back down on the chair, and looked at my phone that had the texts, _You got this!_ And _Remember the hot bitch you are_ , from Tina and Ashlee respectively.

I ran the curler through my hair to give it a slight beachy wave and thought about what we could possibly be doing today. We were in a quarantine so there weren't many places that we could go. And even so, we had to wear masks. 

Curling my hair, I looked into the mirror and could see Max sitting in his bed on the other side of the room. He had a sad expression on his face. He could always tell when I was about to go out, and never knew if he would get to come. “Sorry boy,” I frowned. “I got a hot date.” He sighed as if he could hear me and laughed at him. “I’ll make it up to you! Promise! I’ll leave you extra treats in your crate.” He turned his head away from me. Sometimes I really thought he could hear what I was saying.

When I was finished curling my hair, I turned off and unplugged the curler and left it on my desk to cool down. I stripped myself of the t-shirt and shorts I was wearing, and pulled on my underwear. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I was hot shit. I was worth it. I would blow his mind.

I tugged my dress over my head, thankful that it didn’t have a zipper that I couldn’t reach. That was one of the worst parts of living alone. That, and when there was a really stubborn jar I couldn’t open. I fluffed out the dress a bit and looked again to the mirror. I adjusted my hair that fell out of place while I was getting dressed and then slid my arms into the sleeves of my jean jacket.

“C’mon Max, you gotta go out before I leave.” I picked my phone up off the desk and put it in my small, black crossbody bag that had a gold chain. My eyes dragged over the few pieces of jewelry I owned before deciding on a matching gold chained necklace and bracelet. I put those on, struggling a bit with clasping the bracelet and called for Max again. “C’mon Max!” I nodded my head towards the door and walked out of the room for him to follow.

I took Max outside, and then came back in and sat down on my couch. I still had a bit of time before Chris was going to come pick me up, it was only about 1:50. I was going through my social media accounts and saw a notification from twitter. It was a follower request from Chris. I smiled and accepted it, wondering if he had stalked me like I stalked him.

The doorbell rang as I was flipping through apps a little more and Max shot towards the front door, sniffing and wagging his tail. “Max,” I said, laughing a bit. I opened the front door to Chris wearing a dark blue collared t-shirt with the top button undone. It was tucked into a pair of grey dress pants. My eyes made their way down his body to the grey sneakers on his feet. This man could look good wearing anything.

“Hi Em,” Chris breathed. His right hand found a spot on my hip and he leaned towards me to press a kiss to my cheek. “You look gorgeous.”

“Hi Chris,” I returned. “Thanks.” I opened the door a bit wider for him to come in as I said, “I just have to put Max in his crate.”

“Hey Max!” Chris bent down to pet him and Max licked his face, making Chris laugh.

When I had his treat in my hand I said, “He’s mad at me cause I keep leaving him. I told him I’d make it up to him with Dodger.” I called his name, put his treat in his crate and shut the door after him. “Be good, Maxy. I’ll be back.”

“I think Dodge would love that.”

While passing the couch, I grabbed my purse and went over to the door. I slipped on my sneakers and looked to Chris saying, “Ready.”

He put his hand out and I wrapped mine in his. A jolt of electricity moved through our hands and up to my heart making it skip a beat. He pulled me down my steps and I laughed when I saw his car parked in front of my house, instead of it’s usual spot in the driveway just next door. 

Chris opened the passenger door for me and then closed it when I was settled. He went over to the driver’s side, slid in the seat and started the engine. “Didn’t know you were such a gentleman, Cap,” I said when we pulled away from my house.

“When I want to be.” He pulled his eyes off the road for a moment to look over at me.

“I like it,” I decided. This small stroke of confidence may have come from a number of places, my friends, my underwear, or Chris’s presence but I reminded myself to continue it. The smile on his face told me that he liked it too. “So, where are we going?” I wondered.

“Well, first, I figured since you had a really busy week we could just go have a nice, quiet stroll at Minuteman.” I had been to Minuteman National Historical Park a few times. It had really beautiful walking trails that I had taken Max on before. I smiled at how thoughtful Chris was, thinking about the week I had.

“What were you up to all week?”

“Oh Scott and I had a mean Mario Kart competition.” He laughed. “We have a tally on my phone. I’m currently winning.”

“We gotta play, I will crush you!”

“I don’t know, Em. Me and Mario are undefeated so far.”

“Oh you use Mario? That’s like the most boring character! I bet you always use the same cart too!” I teased.

“Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t rag on my boy Mario! Who do you use then?”

“You gotta feel it out. It’s different every time.”

“You’re so on. What are you doing tomorrow? It’s Easter and we’ve got a Mario Kart tournament with Ethan and Miles going on if you’re in.” I smiled at how easy it was to slip in an invitation for Easter. I had already hung out with his family but now would hang out with them as… a girl he went on a date with? Uh oh, I had no idea.

“Oh, um, sure. It’s usually just me and Max and I call my mom so I’d love to.”

“Great. Ma would have had my neck if I didn’t invite you.” I was reminded of the conversation I had with his mom earlier in the week.

“I had an interesting conversation with your mom,” I said. I saw his eyebrows raise as he put his blinker on to take a left turn. “How much did you tell her about us?” I wondered with a sly smile on my face.

He started to open his mouth to talk but closed it again. He looked like a little kid that was caught in a lie and it made me smile. “Well I definitely told her how upset I was that she hid her beautiful neighbor from me for two whole years if that’s what you mean.”

“Oh,” I said. That wasn’t what I expected him to say. I thought about all the compliments Chris kept giving me and tried to form one to give back to him. “Well then maybe I should give her some shit for hiding her hot son from me for two years.”

He looked over at me with a smirk as he started to pull into the parking lot of the park. Just like at Walden Pond, there were only a few cars in the lot. Chris parked and we got out of the car. After Chris put on some sunglasses, as more of a disguise than anything because the sun wasn’t really out, he came over to me and grabbed my hand and we started walking along the trail.

“So tell me,” Chris said. “You just have your twin brother?” I nodded my head. “And your mom and dad?”

“Yeah, it’s just the four of us. Mike’s in Seattle and my parents are living the retired life in North Carolina. What about you? I mean, I’ve met most of your family except for your dad?”

“Oh yeah. My mom and dad are divorced. But there’s no bad blood there. They’re great people and I love my dad.”

“You must be close to them.” I looked up at him and smiled.

“My whole family is really close. I brought them all to the premiere of _Endgame_. We had a blast. I love them.”

“Does your dad live close?”

“Yeah, he’s out in Groton. He’s a dentist out there.”

“Oh god, I hate the dentist.” I laughed. “But I’m sure he’s one of the good ones. Just as long as he’s not drilling into my teeth.”

Chris laughed too. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him do that.”

He pulled me closer to him as a lady that was running went around us. “It must be nice to have your family around. I miss mine so much.”

“Were you originally from here?” He questioned as I felt him use his thumb to rub gentle circles on my hand. He seemed to do it absentmindedly and I smiled at the gesture.

“Yup. Born and raised in Massachusetts. I lived down the Cape until I went to college. I got the job in Concord after I graduated and I’ve been here ever since. My brother got a job in Seattle and my dad hated the cold so my parents moved down south. Although, who knows what’s going to happen next because I’m sure my mom will want to be near Mike and Olivia when they have the baby. But, it’s a bit hard to move my dad around so who knows.”

Chris turned his head towards me with a confused look on his face about my last comment, so I elaborated.

“My dad is in a wheelchair.” He looked over at me and searched my face for what I was thinking and how he could respond to it. “He was in a really bad car accident when I was little. Drunk driver. I was in the backseat and thankfully just got a broken arm.” His thumb continued it’s trail along my head and it felt good, like the support was there. “He got paralyzed from the waist down.”

“Oh shit,” Chris said. “I’m so sorry, Em.”

“Thanks. But don’t be. We’re just lucky nothing worse happened. My dad’s really positive about it for that reason.” I shrugged my shoulders because I wasn’t sure what else to say. It was my life and there wasn’t anything I would change about it. I loved my dad so much. “Let’s talk about something else,” I changed the subject with a small laugh. “What’s your favorite color?”

Chris and I walked through the trail and got back out to the car. It took us about two hours. We stopped at one spot and sat on a bench for a bit. I took a few pictures of us and asked him what his policy on posting pictures was. It was so easy to forget that he was a huge Hollywood actor and not just the guy next door. He told me that he was really private in his personal life so it depended on where I wanted to show it to which I responded, “I mostly just wanted it for myself, but that’s good to know.”

We got back to my house and Chris parked in his mom’s driveway. I opened the car door and started to say thank you for the walk because I figured that was the end of our date when he said, “Hold on, I wanna show you something in the backyard.”

Confused, I took his hand when he offered it to me and he led me to the backyard. When we got there, I gasped and my smile was so big that it hurt my face. Lisa’s porch was lined with string lights, and in the center was a circular table with two folding chairs. The table had a candle lit in the middle with two place settings in front of each chair. “Chris.” I looked towards him. “How did you even do this?”

“Scott owed me one.” He smiled and we walked to the table. He pulled out a chair for me to sit in and then went over to the sliding door and disappeared into the house. While he was gone, I looked around and saw there were more candles lit around the back deck. He came back out with a tray in his hands. “Hope you like lasagna.” He presented the dish to me and then set it on the table.

“A gentleman, a romantic, and a cook. Where have you been hiding all my life, Cap?” Chris smiled and sat down across from me.

“I could say the same thing.”

We dove into the meal, me forgetting that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning. “Holy shit. Forget about your acting abilities, you should be known for your cooking! That chicken we had and now this.”

“I gotta give my mom all the credit. They’re her recipes.” He took a bite of his food and I looked at him for a few minutes.

“Thanks Chris.”

Chris launched into a story about how the entire Avengers crew had a potluck on the last day of filming _Endgame_ and everyone brought a dish. Chris brought three pans of this lasagna and it was gone in seconds. Everyone didn’t know that he was that good of a cook and they were mad he waited until then to tell them.

“And then we got drunk and I think they all forgot.”

I laughed. “Oh I bet drunk Chris is a sight to see.” I raised my eyebrows at him, the smiling growing on my face. “I’d like to see that.”

“Oh baby, you get a couple beers in me. I’ll be singing on the tables.”

“Oh perfect, where’s the beer?” I got up and started to walk towards the backdoor, pretending I was going inside to grab some.

“That’s for another time,” Chris said as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. He pushed out his chair a bit, wrapped his arms around my waist and sat me down on his lap. “For right now, let’s do this.” I turned my head towards him as he captured my lips in a kiss.

One hand was wrapped around my waist, and I felt the other laying on my thigh, playing with the fabric of my dress. It had ridden up a bit when I sat down. His hand left a tingle on my thigh which made its way between my legs. I couldn’t get over how much I could feel by a single touch, or even Chris’s words. It was thrilling.

His kissing became faster and hungrier, like he couldn’t get enough of me. I kissed him back with matched fervor. My hands found their way to his neck and I wrapped my hands around him. I dipped my tongue into his mouth, and felt him trail his hand higher on my thigh. My entire body was getting hotter and I felt constricted in my denim jacket. I pulled away from him for a second to pull it off and Chris immediately attached his mouth to my neck. When he realized what I was doing, he started to help me pull off my jacket.

I stood up for a moment, trying to get into a better position where I wasn’t craning my neck. I hiked my leg up and straddle his lap becoming exceptionally aware that the only thing keeping us apart was his jeans and my panties. Chris’s hands found my waist as I crossed my arms behind his neck and our mouths found each other again.

I couldn’t describe kissing Chris. It was how I imagine laying on a cloud to be. So soft and perfect. I could feel myself throbbing between my legs as Chris grew underneath me. I ground my hips against him and he moaned.

His beard scratched me a bit and I smiled against his lips. His hands trailed up my sides so his hands were on my back and his thumbs were on the sides of my breasts. I relished in this new touch that he was giving me and craved for more. Suddenly I thought about how we were sitting in the backyard at his mom’s house and anyone could come out and see us.

I broke the kiss and said, “Someone’s gonna see us.”

He smiled and kissed me again, “My mom and Scott aren’t here. I told them to leave.”

“You told your mother to leave her own house?!” I playfully swatted him on the chest.

“Well I asked her really politely.” I rolled my eyes and kissed him. “She really likes you, you know.”

“She told me you needed someone like me,” I said with a smile and flipped my hair, jokingly. 

Chris gave me a kiss and said, “Someone smart.” Kiss on my left cheek. “Funny.” Right cheek. “Sweet.” Kiss on my nose. “Selfless.” My chin. “Fucking beautiful.” He finally seized my mouth again and I felt his hands on my thighs, pulling my dress up higher and I froze a bit.

“I want you so bad, Chris.” I ground my hips against him again. “But I don’t think I’m ready yet.” I turned my head away from him, worried about what his answer was gonna be.

“Em.” He turned my face towards him. He had a smile on his face, melting my worries away. “You have no fucking clue how bad I want you. But we’ll do whatever you’re ready for. You gotta tell me though.” I nodded and we kissed again.

“I could do a bit more of this I think.” I leaned my face towards him and pressed his lips to mine. He tasted sweet like candy with a mixture of earthiness. I couldn’t quite explain it because his kisses made my head foggy. 

I ended up sitting on his lap, kissing him for an hour. I hadn’t realized we were sitting there that long until the wind sent a shiver down my spine, blew out all the candles and Chris checked the time on his phone.

“Okay, last time it was an excuse. But this time I really have to go check on Max.”

“I knew you were full of shit,” he teased. He gave me another kiss and I got up off his lap. He stood up with me, wrapping his hand around my waist, grasping my right butt cheek and pulling me towards him again.

“Do you have an infatuation with my ass, Cap?” I narrowed my eyes at him and his response was to grab it tighter, making me yelp. “Captain America is an ass man, who knew?” I reached behind him to grab him the same way. “I think I might be too if you keep flaunting this around.” I could feel his erection, bigger than before, against my stomach.

“Baby girl, you’ve gotta go soon unless you’re gonna let me rip that dress off.” He rolled his head back and I blushed, surprised with myself that it hadn’t happened before now. A shiver ran through me and I felt my nipples harden, so I escaped his grasp to grab my jacket where it was discarded on the deck. I put it on and grabbed my purse from the table.

Chris wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we walked that way back to my house. I got to my front door and turned to him. “Thanks for today Chris, it was the best date I’ve ever had.”

“Anytime, Em. See you tomorrow.” He kissed me again, and then once more and I laughed and then one more final time.

“See you tomorrow.” I opened my door and retreated into my house and leaned against the door when it closed. I felt the nerves run through my body at the thought of being around Chris’s family tomorrow for Easter, but then just felt extreme excitement at the thought of seeing him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took longer than usual cause I was having some major writer's block! Thank you all for commenting, leaving kudos and bookmarking, it really means so much to me! Next chapter is their Easter, let me know what you think's gonna happen next! :)


	9. Chapter 9

My hips were swaying back and forth as I was listening to music and skinning sweet potatoes for the casserole I was making to bring to Lisa’s house. My mom always made sweet potato casserole on Easter when I was younger and I have continued the tradition ever since.

“I just took a DNA test, turns out, I’m a hundred percent that bitch even when I’m crying crazy,” I sang along with Lizzo. I absolutely loved this song and Lizzo because she would pump me up and put me in a good mood. 

I peeled the last sweet potato and looked down towards Max at my feet, singing to him. “You coulda had a bad bitch, non-committal, helped you with your career, just a little.” I cleared off the counter and then took out a cutting board. I put the sweet potatoes on the cutting board and then went to get a pot to start boiling the potatoes.

I was really excited to be having Easter with the Evanses today. When I was younger, Easter was a big family holiday, but now that we were all over the place it was harder to get together during Easter. Especially after buying plane tickets at Christmastime to see everyone. So, I have had a lot of Easters eating ham and sweet potato casserole alone.

As I was chopping, I was trying to squelch my nervousness. I was mostly nervous because I didn’t know what I was to Chris yet and I was having a holiday dinner with his family. I mean, I knew that he meant a lot to me, and it was quite a relief that his family already knew me, but this felt different. I had never wanted to make a good impression on a group of people more. I wanted them to like me, not only as me, but someone worthy of Chris.

After chopping up the sweet potatoes, I put them into the water to boil. While they boiled, I put the butter into the microwave to soften it a bit before putting it into a big mixing bowl. The song changed and I shifted slightly on my feet, swaying from side to side. I smiled, singing along. “Oh Jerome, Jerome. Take your ass home, and come back when you’re grown.”

The sound of my phone ringing made me pause my actions and shout to Alexa to turn down the music a bit. Chris’s name displayed on my screen and I smiled when I answered it. “Hello?” I held the phone between my ear and my shoulder so I could continue cooking. Chris had already texted me earlier in the day to tell me when dinner was so I wasn’t sure why he was calling.

“Hi Em.” I could hear dishes moving in the background and I smiled, wondering if he was helping his mom in the kitchen. That boy sure knew his way around it. “Ma told me to call and make sure you had no food allergies. She was mad at me that I didn’t know already.”

I laughed. “Nope, no allergies here.” I opened the brown sugar to measure some out and dropped that into the bowl. “Except olives. I really hate olives,” I said, making a disgusted face.

“Alright ma, she says extra olives on everything!” I heard him say away from the phone, but loud enough for me to hear.

“Chris!” I yelled, laughing. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to come anymore,” I joked.

“Scratch that ma. I’m throwing all the olives out.” I rolled my eyes, yet bit my lip to keep myself from smiling.

“Oh,” I said, remembering something I hadn’t asked. “Do you think it’s okay to cook the casserole I have at your house, before dinner? It only takes about twenty-five minutes.”

I heard him ask his mom and I heard her voice but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. “She says you don’t have to bring anything.” I didn’t say anything because there was no point. Chris was gonna learn I would never not bring something to someone’s house I was invited to. “But she says of course. Anything for you.” I heard him and his mom laugh. “I added the last line but I know she thinks it.”

I laughed too. “Okay well, I’ve gotta finish this! Bye Chris. See you soon.”

“Can’t wait,” he said and I heard him hung up. It wasn’t lost on me that he said all those things with his mom in direct earshot. I knew they were close and my nerves came back, needing to impress her. She was so important to Chris and he was important to me.

I put the phone down on the counter and told Alexa to turn the volume up, hoping that Lizzo could give me the confidence I so desperately needed.

Once the casserole was all set in a dish with a healthy coating of marshmallows on top, I floated into the shower in such a good mood. I made sure to shave over everything because I hadn’t in a while and things were starting to feel prickly and itch.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me, knowing that I was cutting it a little close on time. Chris had said that dinner would be at 4, but the party was starting at 2. Max and I had a lazy morning after FaceTiming my mom and dad to say Happy Easter. I hadn’t started cooking until noon.

I hadn’t told my mom about Chris and I felt a little guilty. My mom and I were really close and it felt like I was keeping a secret from her, especially because he made me feel so happy, so content, so safe. Thinking it over, part of me was worried when she found out what he did for a living and I knew she’d have a million questions I didn’t want to answer. 

We were in our quarantine bubble, but once it was over who knew what would happen. Would he go back to California? Would he be all over the place for filming? Would I just be that girl he met and I would see him in movies and remember this whirlwind romance we had?

I didn’t want to think about that so I didn’t give it much thought. I wrapped a towel around me and sat down at my desk to work on my hair. I dried it and left it how it fell, mostly because I really didn’t have time to do anything else. I clipped a few of the front pieces back and got to work on my makeup. As always, it was very simple. I used concealer to cover up a pimple forming on my chin that I silently cursed at and then put on my trusty mascara.

I smiled to myself as I pulled on my dress. I’ll admit, I had an ulterior motive to wearing it. It was a beautiful baby pink, lace, short sleeve dress. It was fitted and went down just past my knees and it made my figure, especially my butt, look amazing. While I wouldn’t admit it outwardly to him, I was wearing it for Chris. I also thought it was really pretty and perfect for an Easter Sunday.

I was now at the front door, Max’s leash in hand, looking around my house to make sure I had everything. Chris told me it was fine to bring Max, that way I wouldn’t have to leave him in his crate all day. Dodger would be happy to have a friend with him. The clock on my phone changed to 2:00 and Max was wagging his tail at my feet. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to balance Max and the casserole at the same time.

Max and I made our way over to Lisa’s and I rang the doorbell. Lisa opened it, adorned in a flowery apron and a smile on her face. “Hi Emily! So glad you could join us!”

“Thanks Lisa,” I smiled. “I’m so glad I was invited.” I walked into the house behind her and heard the sound of Dodger’s collar and nails on the hardwood. I think Max heard him too because he started to wag his tail. As they were greeting each other, I turned to Lisa who was glazing the ham. “Do you mind if I leave Max here for a minute? I couldn’t balance the casserole and him so I’ve got to go get it.”

“Of course, dear!” She dropped the spoon she was using into the bowl of glaze and turned around, digging into a jar by the stove. “Max!” She yelled and he looked to her, hearing his name. She produced a treat and he immediately ran to her, sitting at her feet. She gave it to him, petting his head and announcing him to be a good boy. She did the same thing with Dodger.

“Well great, now he’ll never leave.” I laughed. I turned around to head back over to my house and caught Chris coming down the stairs. He looked absolutely delectable wearing khakis, matching shoes, a light blue button down shirt with sleeves folded up to elbows and tucked in, and a tan belt. “Hi,” I said with an awkward wave, caught off-guard. He made the butterflies erupt in my tummy because he looked so good. 

“I’ve got to go get my casserole,” I said, pointing to the door.

He nodded and I heard his footsteps after me. “I’ll help!” He yelled into the house and I laughed.

“Chris, I don’t need your help with a casserole.” I shot over my shoulder and saw him smirk. “No one in your family is gonna believe that.”

He didn’t even wait for me to open my front door. Once I got on my front porch, his larger strides had caught up to me and he turned me around by grabbing my elbow. “Yeah, but it’s gonna be a long time before I can do this again.” He said, his hot breath hitting mine. He had pressed me up against my front door and I could feel every dip of his muscles as he slowly pressed himself against me. First his legs, then his pelvis, his stomach, his chest, finally his shoulders. He was making it really hard to not want to take him back to my bed right now.

He smiled and placed his mouth to mine and I felt my entire body sigh. Our lips molded together perfectly as if they were made to fit together. The kiss was slow and teasing. My hand fiddled behind me, finding the door knob and opening the door. I slipped into my house with a smile on my face.

I turned back around with the casserole in my hands and saw him standing in my doorway, scratching the back of his neck. I loved the way his arm muscles rippled and moved as he did it. “You are stunning,” he said with a smile on his face and dropped another kiss to my mouth.

“That will be enough of that, sir. I need to make a good impression on your family and you running around kissing me is not going to help.” I closed my door and he picked up the foil on top of the casserole. “Hey!” The glass pan was heavy so I didn’t have a free hand to swat his away.

“You told me you couldn’t cook! What is this?” He teased with a smile.

“This is an age old recipe. I’ve been making it and eating it for years, I could make it in my sleep.” He grabbed the pan from my hands as we made our way up Lisa’s porch and into the house. Chris walked into the kitchen, placing my casserole on the counter.

“Emily! You didn’t have to make anything! But I heard something about casserole?” She raised her eyebrows at me, looking over to my dish on the counter.

“Sweet potato. It’s my mom’s recipe and I can’t go an Easter without it.” I smiled.

“Well then, I can’t wait to have some,” Lisa said and my heart warmed. I couldn’t help but think about how Lisa and my mom would get along. I could almost see them now, cooking and crafting with some wine by a lake and I smiled at the thought.

“Emily! Gorgeous!” I heard a voice say from behind me and saw Scott with open arms wearing black dress pants and a lavender button down shirt. I smiled as he wrapped me in his arms. “Where have you been all my life, beautiful?” I laughed, Scott was such a flirt.

“I usually don’t get let out, this is a rare occurrence. Call yourself lucky.”

“Oh I most definitely am.”

While I was talking with Scott, my eyes were trained on Chris. He was moving around the dining room, setting the table and shooting me glances here and there. Scott and I were between the kitchen and the dining room and when Chris walked behind me, I felt his hand graze my hips. I looked around, noting there was more than enough room for him, he didn’t have to walk so close to me. I looked at him but he wasn’t looking my way.

All of our heads turned to the front door as we heard a car door shut. Carly and her family were here. The boys ran up to the front porch with Stella running behind them. Each of the boys were wearing khakis and plaid shirts with matching bow ties. Stella was in a pretty white dress that had beautiful pink roses printed all over it.

It was a fight to get to the door, Scott and Chris both going over, Lisa trailing behind them and Max and Dodger following closely. I smiled and hung back as the family greeted each other with hugs and kisses. “Hi Emily! Good to see you!” Carly said. She was lugging a huge bag behind her and put it down in the dining room.

“Hey bud, you remember Emily?” Chris came over to me, holding Miles who nodded his head.

“Emily!” I heard Stella say and I turned towards her with a smile on my face. She ran up to me with open arms so I picked her up in a hug.

“Hi Stella!” I moved my head back a bit so that I could look at her. “Your dress is so pretty!” I smoothed it out a bit to look at all the flowers.

“Thank you! Yours is too!” I smiled and tapped her on her nose as Chris came over to us. “Uncle Chris!” He smiled at her and I let her be transferred to his arms for a hug. She whispered something into his ear that they both laughed at and made me smile.

“Alright everyone, party’s in the backyard. Make yourselves comfortable!” The boys ran to the backyard, Stella and the dogs following them. I smiled at Max, happy that he had some friends to play with and excited he was going to be tired out tonight.

The adults were making their way outside when I heard Lisa call my name. I turned back to her and she asked, “What’s the temperature for your casserole, hon?”

“It’s 375 for twenty five minutes!” She smiled at me and shooed me from the kitchen, out to the backyard with everyone. As I was making my way through the house, I felt arms grasp my shoulders and didn’t need to look back to see who’s touch it was.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Chris whispered into my ear. I felt his hands move down my sides, over my hips and cup my butt. My eyes went wide and I jumped from him.

“Christopher,” I scolded. I looked back to him to see him smirk. “I’m glad you think this is funny.” I walked away from him and into the backyard, rolling my eyes and trying not to laugh as well.

Shanna joined us a few moments later as the boys were trying to rope us into a game of hide and seek. Carly and Ryan refused, understandably wanting some time away from their kids and Shanna was lost in a conversation with Carly. 

So that’s how I ended up running around the backyard, trying to find a spot to hide while Ethan was counting to thirty.

I found a large tree but abandoned that idea when I realized it wasn’t going to be good enough. I ran around to the front of the house and spotted all the cars in the driveway. I crouched down behind Chris’s car and I could still hear Ethan counting.

“Twenty-seven... twenty-eight… twenty-nine… thirty! Ready or not here I come!” I suddenly got nervous because I could hear footsteps running towards me and I thought I was going to be found. I laughed when I realized the footsteps were too heavy to be Ethan’s.

“You’re gonna get us both found!” I whispered to Chris. He crouched down next to me, a smile on his lips.

“Worth it.” His tongue wet his lips and he kissed me. I pulled away from him and frowned.

“Chris, I’m serious. I want to make a good impression on your family. And I maybe don’t want them to catch us making out.” I looked at him as if it was obvious and then we heard a few pairs of footsteps running.

We laughed as we saw Ethan chasing Scott as he was trying to catch up to him to tag him. “That’s cheating! You can’t hide together!” Scott pointed to us as he ran by. It was hysterical to me how competitive these boys were that they wouldn’t even let their nephews win.

Since Ethan knew where our hiding spot was, I stood up and looked around, trying to find a new spot. I ran into the backyard and found a new spot, just off to the side of the deck. I saw Chris run behind a tree. Scott stopped to catch his breath and Ethan caught up to him yelling, “Got you!”

“I’m too old for this.” Scott said, breathing heavy as he put his hands on his waist to rest. I giggled from my spot and I think Ethan heard me because he turned around and started taking off in my direction.

“Oh no!” I turned, running towards the front yard. Running in this dress was not happening and Ethan easily caught up to me and tagged me. “Oh man!” I yelled when he laughed and turned around, trying to find Chris.

I made my way over to Scott who said, “Cheater” with a smile on his face.

Ethan eventually found Chris and Miles and we all walked back up to the adults sitting around the deck. The boys each grabbed a bottle of water from one of the coolers and Chris reached into another one. “Em, you want a drink?” He held a beer out to me.

“Yeah sure, thanks.” He took a bottle opener, effortlessly uncapped it and held it out to me. I smiled at him and pressed it to my lips, letting the liquid slide down my throat. It was cold and offered a nice cool down to the exercise I just did.

I sat down in the group of chairs and crossed my legs. Scott came over and took the empty chair on my left, a beer in his hand as well. Chris walked by me, brushing my knee as he did so. I looked up to him and he was looking forward, as if nothing had happened. He took the chair on my right.

“That was a quick game.” Ryan laughed at all of us, making us laugh too. I snapped my fingers at Max and he came over to me, sitting at my feet. I bent down a bit to pat his head and took another sip of my beer.

“I forgot what it was like to keep up with ten year olds all day.” I laughed, remembering my students and getting a little sad all over again.

“You keep up with Chris pretty well!” Scott said, making everyone laugh and me trying to hold my blush in.

“Oh come on Scott, at least give him twelve!” I looked over to him while everyone laughed. He had a shocked look on his face, with the hint of a smile on the corner of his lips.

Dodger came over to me and sat down next to Max at my feet. I reached down to pet him on his head and he turned towards me, licking my fingers. I giggled at him and leaned back in my chair. “So Emily, I hear you’re a twin?” Scott turned to me and asked.

“Oh! Yeah.” I nodded and tried to repress my smile. This means that Chris had talked about me to his brother. “I have a twin brother.”

“Are you identical?” Scott wondered, making me laugh along with everyone else. It was sad how much I actually got this question.

I shook my head. “Scott, a boy and a girl can’t be identical twins you idiot,” Shanna said. 

“Well I don’t know! I don’t know any twins!” He puts his hands up defensively.

“No, it’s okay. You wouldn’t believe how many times I get asked that question.” 

“Ethan!” Carly yelled. We all looked in the direction that Carly was yelling to see Ethan picking up fistfuls of dirt. “You’re going to ruin your clothes and we haven’t even taken a group picture yet!” Carly rolled her eyes, got up to go over to her son and scold him a bit more, I’m sure.

“Best part about being an uncle, no discipline,” Scott said, taking a sip of his beer.

“I’m gonna be an aunt soon!” I yelled happily. “My brother and his wife are having a baby!”

“No way! That’s awesome! Being an uncle is the best.”

“I literally can’t wait. I’ve already bookmarked so many clothes and toys to send them.” I finished my beer and circled it around in my hand. I looked over to Chris because he was being awfully quiet. I saw him looking back at me and he gave me a smile. I smiled back at him.

“You done?” he questioned, motioning to my beer. I nodded and he got up to grab it from me. “Want another one?” I shook my head, not wanting to have too much before dinner. His fingers brushed mine when he took the bottle from me and his fingers brushed against my knee just as they had done before, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I watched him walk around the porch and place them in the recycling bin. He came back and sat down next to me again, pulling his chair a little closer.

The six of us were currently engaged in a lengthy conversation about a zombie apocalypse and who would survive. The Evans siblings were making my sides hurt from laughing. Chris was the muscle of the operation but they’re not sure he would last long because he would want to save everyone. Carly would take over and be the leader of the pack. Shanna would do the cooking and bandaging of wounds. Scott said he was going to make fabulous outfits and be the comic relief.

“Emily would science the shit out of some contraption and save us all,” Chris said, making me laugh at the term “science the shit out”.

I laughed, getting up and excusing myself to use the bathroom. I walked into the house and could hear Lisa moving around the kitchen. “Lisa, I feel so bad you’re in here all alone! Can I do something to help?”

“It’s almost ready, but I wouldn’t mind some plating help if you’re offering.”

“Of course! Let me go to the bathroom first.”

“Upstairs, first door on the left,” she nodded her head towards me and I made my way up the stairs. When I finished going to the bathroom, I fluffed my hair up in the mirror a bit before turning around to open the door. I gasped when I saw Chris standing in front of it and he backed me up towards the sink, closing the door.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” I whispered. He smiled at me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“My family already loves you.” His lips attached themselves to my neck and I wanted to moan in response but I needed to stand my ground. I put my hands on his chest, trying to push him back.

“That doesn’t mean I want them knowing we’re sneaking around making out!”

“It’s not my fault you come to my house looking like this, baby girl.” He raked his eyes down my body and I could feel my body betraying me.

“Don’t use that fucking name.” I rolled my head back, mostly so that I could look away from him.

“What? Baby girl?” I let out a breath and I know he could tell what it did to me. “Oh? You like that, huh?” I looked at him and he had a devilish smile on his face. “Good to know.” Before I knew it, his hands were no longer on my waist and he was walking out the door. I took a second to steady my breath and looked in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t blushing.

“Sorry Lisa,” I said when I got back downstairs. Chris was nowhere to be found and I took a deep breath again.

Once the table was set, Lisa called the entire family to dinner. Everyone found their seats and they left me the spot right next to Chris. We all sat down, Lisa said grace and then we dug into the meal. Everything looked so delicious and I was really excited.

“Stella, do you need help?” She was sitting next to me and I looked at her plate with a big piece of ham on it. “Want me to cut it?” She nodded. I grabbed her fork and my knife and began cutting the meat into bite size pieces for her. I noticed that Ryan and Carly were doing the same thing for the boys and Carly smiled at me.

“Thanks Emily. I don’t know why we had three, now we’re always outnumbered.”

“No problem,” I said, finishing cutting in no time. “There you go Stell.” She gave me a smile in return and I smiled back at her.

In the middle of dinner, I felt Chris’s hand make its way to my thigh. He just placed it there, as if taking his claim on me. Even though my dress was covering my skin, I could feel the goosebumps forming. His hand stayed there for the rest of dinner as we had conversations about quarantine and the first things we were going to do once things got better.

After dinner, Ethan, Miles, Stella, and their uncles were lost in the land of Mario Kart and I made them promise to save a race for me. Carly, Shanna, Lisa, and I were cleaning up the kitchen and having tea and coffee.

“Thanks for having me Lisa. Having holidays alone gets a little old after a while.” I took a sip of my coffee and she looked at me shocked.

“Oh dear! If I’d have known, I would have invited you over sooner!”

I laughed a little, “It’s no problem at all. It’s not like I have a sign on my front door that says, ‘I’m alone, please invite me to your holiday dinner!’” The four of us laughed. Lisa had started taking out some pies for dessert, unwrapping them and putting them in the oven.

“Emily, I _have_ to get that sweet potato casserole recipe from you, that was amazing!” Shanna said. Lisa and Carly agreed and their gushing brought a smile to my face. Everyone had loved the casserole and there was only a small amount left. I couldn’t wait to tell my mom how it was received.

Chris stepped into the kitchen at that moment saying, “Ah, all my favorite ladies,” with a smile on his face. He came over to me and kissed me on my temple, right by my hairline, making me blush. I couldn’t believe that he had just done that in front of his mom and sisters. “Your turn for a race, Em.” He handed me a controller and I jumped down from my stool, following Chris into the living room where all the boys and Stella were playing.

“Alright boys! Are you ready?” I said, sitting down in between Ethan and Scott. “I’m gonna kick some butt.”

“Dream on, sweetheart,” Scott said.

I ended up using Shy Guy on a motorcycle and Scott chose the racetrack, picking Delfino Square. As the countdown went, I pressed the A button making my cart take off in front of everyone. I had a competitive bug, especially with Mario Kart. I was in first place and made an exasperated sound when someone sent me a blue shell, blowing up my cart, and Ethan took over first place. “No!” I screamed, trying to make it back there. I never did. Somehow, Scott passed me at the last second and I ended up in third place. “No!” I yelled, falling back on the couch.

“Maybe next time, hot shot,” Chris said. He was standing behind the couch, leaning onto it.

“I am so practicing and we’re getting a rematch.” I poked my pointer and middle finger towards my eyes and then towards the boys on the couch that I had just lost to, telling them that I was watching them. “Mark my words.”

My phone buzzed a few times and I opened it on my way back to the kitchen to sit down with the ladies. It was my family group text. Mike had sent pictures of him and Olivia eating dinner and wishing us all a happy Easter. Then a picture came up of my mom and dad at their kitchen table, eating dessert. 

All of a sudden, I felt nervous. I felt like I had to send a picture too, and I wanted to but they would see that I was dressed up and would wonder where I was. And then what would I say? “Oh I’m at my friend Chris’s house. And he gives me butterflies and makes my knees weak and knows how to kiss really well.” I had to have a talk with Chris on how I should introduce him to my family.

I ended up just sending a picture of Max because that was safe, and wished them all a happy Easter as well.

As the night dragged on, I became more and more comfortable with Chris’s family. Scott and I had exchanged numbers so that we could arrange a watch party for _RuPaul's Drag Race_ because we both loved it and couldn't stop watching. Carly, Shanna, and I exchanged numbers because I learned they were teachers as well and we were going to help each other survive distance learning. We already had a group chat where I posted some funny memes I found. I even got Lisa’s number so that I could send her my mom’s sweet potato casserole recipe.

“I better get going,” I said, looking down at Max who was asleep at my feet. The kids were asleep upstairs and the rest of us had been chatting in the living room.

“Do you have April vacation this week?” Carly asked. 

I nodded. “Yeah, but I’ll be at the school volunteering to give out meals. I’m so excited. I hope that I get to see some of my kiddos!” I got up and went over to the hooks by the front door where Max’s leash was hanging.

“That’s awesome!” Carly said. “Yeah, we’re having it too. I think it will be good for the kids to have a nice stress free week. And it’s kind of nice for me too.”

I hooked Max’s leash up and made my rounds, saying goodbye to everyone and promising to text them. Lisa told me that I was welcome to her house anytime and she’d hold me to that because she knew where I lived. That made me laugh.

I held onto Max’s leash and grabbed my clean pan off the dining room table. When I went back to the front door, Chris was standing there with Dodger’s leash in hand. “I’ll walk you back,” he said and we slipped out the front door.

“Your family is the best.” I smiled at him as we made the way over to my house. We stopped for a minute because the dogs had to use the bathroom.

“Yeah, they’re pretty great. And they love you.” We got up to my porch and I turned around to say goodnight. “It’s too bad you don’t live farther so we’d have more time before saying goodbye.

_C’mon Emily_ , I thought. _You are beautiful. You are you. You are enough._ “Well…” I trailed off. “You could come in for a bit. If you want.” I bit my lip when his eyes met mine and I saw a twinkle in them.

I opened the door and he followed me in with Dodger in tow. I bent down to take off Max’s leash as Chris did the same, letting Dodger free. I laughed when the two of them ran around each other and took off towards one of Max’s toys. They started playing tug of war together. I kicked my shoes off and left them by the front door, noticing that Chris hadn’t done the same thing. He wasn’t pushing being allowed to stay.

I felt completely engulfed in Chris’s presence as I made my way towards the couch and we sat down together, looking at each other. Neither one of us made a move to look away. “So, um,” I started, immediately regretting it and broke our staring contest. He tilted his head to one side, looking curious. 

My leg was on the couch, bent at the knee so I was facing him and he put a hand down on it to comfort me, urging me to continue. “Well, um, since your whole family knows me I, um, kind of wanted to tell mine about you.” The smile on Chris’s face was slowly growing as I talked and I felt a little less embarrassed as I went on. “But I didn’t know what to say or tell them who you were and ‘friend’ didn’t feel like enough but we also had talked about if you were my boyfriend so I also didn’t want to say that so then I just didn’t know and then I didn’t say anything,” I word vomited. I spoke so fast but I prayed that he heard what I said so I didn’t have to repeat myself.

I saw his chest rumble with a laugh but the sound didn’t come out of his mouth. “I sure hope I’m not just your friend.” He leaned closer to me. “I don’t do this with my friends.” He placed a sweet kiss on my mouth that made me melt.

I pulled back a little. “I um, also didn’t know what to say about your job. I mean, once they see you, they’re gonna figure it out. My brother is a _huge_ Marvel fan.”

“Em,” he laughed a little. “Why don’t you tell them your _boyfriend_ would love to meet them and answer any questions they have about my job.”

I bit my lip and decided to tease him a little. “I don’t know that I could do that.” I turned away from him, “I don’t remember being asked to be a girlfriend. Sorry, I’m old school.”

“Well then, will you go steady with me baby?” Chris said in the worst accent I had ever heard. I think he was going for Danny Zuko from _Grease_. I erupted in laughter, throwing my head back on the couch. He leaned towards me, his mouth inches from mine. “Em, you’re the only girl I want. Would you give me the honor of letting me be your boyfriend?”

“I would like nothing more.” I pushed my lips against his. Our mouths moved together and he began to lean me back on the couch, laying his body over mine. His knee was pressed into the couch, between my legs and I could feel the brief friction that he was creating as he pressed deeper into my center. I ground my hips against him and whimpered.

“Chris,” I cried out. I wanted him so badly. Every inch of my body was on fire and tingling. I was sure that my panties were soaked. I wanted to feel his mouth and hands on every inch of my body as I became highly aware we were wearing too many clothes.

“Baby girl, I want to make you feel good,” Chris whispered in my ear. “If you’ll let me.” I just nodded my head, but that wasn’t satisfactory for him. “Use your words, Em.”

“Take me to bed,” was the only thing that came out of my mouth. He stood up and pulled my arm to come up with him. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him, hooking them at the ankles so that I would stay steady. My mouth grazed by his ear as I bit down on the lobe and I heard him moan. He navigated us through my house and into my room. He kicked the door shut, and I remembered the time that Max interrupted us on my couch which made me smile.

He sat down on the edge of my bed and I felt his legs moving under me, and then I heard the sound of his shoes being kicked off somewhere on my floor. I grabbed his face and attached our mouths together again. I could kiss him forever and still never get enough. His hands tangled in my hair and pulled it a bit, sending a shock wave through my body. It’s like every inch of me was on high alert when he was around. I had never felt such intense pleasure merely from someone’s presence. It was intoxicating.

I broke our kiss apart to speak. “Chris, I need to feel your hands on me.” I ground my hips against his again and we moaned together. His bulge was grinding into me at just the right spot and I couldn’t handle it, my eyes rolled back in my head.

“Your wish is my command.” He reached behind me and found the zipper on the back of my dress, slowly pulling it down. His eyes found mine, silently asking if this was okay and I nodded my head. This was more than okay. He pulled the zipper down all the way and I let it fall forward. I pulled my arms through it and Chris helped me to slip it off the rest of the way and discard it on the ground.

I looked down, remembering I hadn’t even thought to put on a matching pair of underwear. It was just a simple white bra and a pink thong. It wasn’t even cute or lace, just regular cotton. Chris’s eyes took me in and then he looked at me and whispered, “beautiful” before taking my mouth again.

I started pulling at his shirt, trying to untuck it, all while still having Chris’s mouth attacking mine. A sound I had never heard myself make before came out when he used both of his hands to take a fistful of my ass in each and pushed our pelvises together. I got myself back on track, busying with opening the buttons of his shirt. He flipped us over so that he was on top and he helped me by ripping his shirt off the rest of the way.

I drank in his appearance and drew my eyes over his chest. He was toned and chiseled everywhere. I ran my hands down his chest, to his belly button and back up. When he leaned down to kiss me again, I moved my hands around to his back and I didn’t know how sexy back muscles could be until I felt Chris’s.

He broke away from my mouth and placed a kiss to my chin before moving down my body. He placed a kiss to the middle of my chest, between my breasts, the middle of my stomach and then my belly button. He dipped his tongue into my belly button and my hips bucked up towards him. I squirmed underneath him and he smirked, knowing the effect he had on me.

“Baby girl, is this okay?” I nodded, grabbing one of his hands and pulling it to grab my chest. I needed to feel more of his touch on me. I wanted him and I was going to be greedy about it.

His hand began kneading my breast through my bra making all kinds of noises come from my mouth. I don’t even think my mouth and brain were connected anymore and I didn’t care. He leaned down to place a kiss just above the other breast currently unoccupied. I leaned up and found myself saying into his ear, “I want your mouth on me.”

He searched for my eyes and I could see the dark desire swirling in them. I’m sure that he could see the same thing in mine. He reached behind me, unhooked my bra and helped me to pull it from my chest. My hands almost went to cover them subconsciously, but he intertwined our fingers together and slid our hands above my head. He placed three kisses to my mouth and said, “You are so fucking beautiful.”

“Please Chris,” I moaned. All of the teasing was just making me wetter and I could feel every organ pulsating. I arched my back and moved my chest towards him. He slowly dragged his tongue along my left breast, once, twice, three times and then did the same to the other. Once, twice, three times.

He was still holding my hands above my head and I wanted nothing more than to move my hands down to my clit and finish myself off. I tried to move my hips but his weren’t anywhere near me to create any friction. His mouth attached itself to my right breast and I could feel his tongue flicking over my nipple over and over again. I couldn’t describe the feeling. I had never felt this kind of pleasure before. I screamed when I felt his teeth bite me and pull my nipple up. They were rock hard and it almost hurt.

“Oh _God_ ,” I moaned. “ _Fuck_ ,” He unlocked his hold on one of my hands so that he could move down to pinch my other nipple. My breathing started to get faster and I could feel the power building in my lower stomach. A number of high pitched noises and Chris’s name fell out of my mouth as he started my undoing. His beard was scratching against my skin the slightest bit and it only added to the pleasure. He switched his mouth to the left breast, repeating the same actions. I didn’t have time to think as an orgasm ripped through me and I could feel my back arch and myself shake a bit. I screamed out his name. His mouth was still attached to me until I was finished coming.

I immediately felt embarrassed. I had just come from his mouth on my chest and nothing else. This had never happened to me before. “Holy shit,” he breathed and placed a kiss on my mouth. “You are the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

This made the embarrassment drain from my body and it was replaced with confidence. I placed a few sweet kisses on his lips. “I, um, can return the favor.” My hands moved their way down to his belt buckle that I started to undo but his hands stopped me.

“Tonight was about you, baby girl.” He kissed me again and I smiled.

We were quiet for a moment until I said, “Will you stay?” He nodded and I got up to go to the bathroom, pulling a t-shirt and shorts out of my closet to change into. I ran a makeup wipe over my face and made my way back to my room. When I returned, my dress was hung up on my closet door, Chris’s clothes and shoes were folded and put neatly next to the bed. Max and Dodger had made themselves cozy behind Chris and I smiled at how terribly we were going to fit on my full bed. And yet, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Chris opened the covers for me and I saw that he was wearing nothing but his boxers. “Is this okay?” He asked as I slid in next to him.

“More than okay,” I responded and kissed him. I turned around and pressed my back against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me and snuggled me closer to him. I sighed contently, and was so happy that I immediately drifted off to sleep in the arms of my boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was fun to write. As always, thanks for all the comments and kudos! You guys have no idea how much it means to me. I love knowing your thoughts on what was written and what you think will happen next!!


	10. Chapter 10

I woke up the next morning and could feel fingertips ghosting over my thigh in small circles. I smiled as I blinked the sleep from my eyes and remembered who was next to me in my bed. 

“Morning,” I said and leaned on my arm to contort my body and see his face. He smiled and leaned down to give me a sweet kiss.

“Morning.” He leaned in again and I stopped him.

“My breath is probably gross! Let me brush my teeth first!” I tried to get up off the bed but Chris grabbed me by the waist and kept me next to him.

“No, I wanna snuggle some more.” He nuzzled his face into my neck which gave me goosebumps on the back of my neck.

I picked up my phone from where I left it on my nightstand and watched the screen come to life. “Chris, it’s already 9:30!” This time I got myself out of his grasp and got up. “You keep making me forget to set my alarm!” I laughed and threw my pillow at him. I heard him groan and turn over. I pulled my phone out to sneak a picture of him with the dogs on my bed.

Dodger and Max were at the foot of my bed, sleeping right next to each other. They were so close together that they looked like one big fur ball. I got a picture of the two of them up close and went out to the kitchen to start breakfast.

“I want a breakfast sandwich,” I said to myself as I went into the fridge. “Chris, you want a breakfast sandwich?” I said a little louder so that he could hear me in my bedroom. I turned around and saw him walking into the kitchen. He was wearing his boxers and I could clearly see the outline of his length, which made my face blush.

“Sure, what can I do?” I took out a pan for some eggs and another to cook the bacon and placed them on the stove.

“Why don’t you start on this, and I’ll take the dogs out.” I went over to the front door and grabbed the leashes and called for the dogs. “Maxy, Dodger, wanna go potty?” I heard their collars jingle, and then their nails on the hardwood as they made their way towards me. “C’mon boys,” I said as I leaned down and hooked each of their leashes to their collars. I threw on my crocs by the door and made my way outside with the dogs.

The dogs did their business and as I was making my way back up to my front door, I heard a voice. “Ah, what’s this look called? Morning after chic?” I looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Scott in Lisa’s driveway, getting out of his car. 

I could feel my hands starting to sweat as I looked down and forgot I was wearing my pajamas, a large t-shirt and shorts. Although, it looked like I wasn’t wearing any shorts because of how the t-shirt fell. In order to make myself feel better I lifted my shirt so Scott could see and said, “Um, I’m totally wearing shorts.”

Scott leaned his head back in laughter as he grabbed some grocery bags from his back seat. “Don’t worry! We all had bets for what time he was gonna come back. And you just made me win fifty bucks,” he said with a wink.

“Oh my god.” I buried my face in my hands. “Nothing happened!” Well, something happened. But Scott and his family didn’t need to know that.

Scott continued laughing as he disappeared into Lisa’s house. I ran back up to my porch, remembering that Chris’s entire family was in his house and they knew he was at my house all night. I opened the door and smelled the familiar scent of bacon and eggs, and english muffins toasting in the toaster.

I took the dogs of their leashes and went over to Chris making a whining noise. “Scott just saw me.” 

He looked over to me from the stove. I sat down at a stool at the island. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, and he said he won fifty bucks because you didn’t come back last night.” Chris turned back to flip over the bacon and started laughing. “Chris! You guys just love to embarrass me, don’t you?!”

He turned around and leaned on the island to look at me. I watched as his muscles flexed and wiped my mouth to make sure there wasn’t any drool. I made a note of some tattoos that I hadn’t seen last night. I just wanted to run my fingers over them. “Em.” He looked in my eyes. “We’re adults, my family just likes to bust my balls.”

“Well it seems like their busting mine too,” I said with a pout and he gave me a little laugh. “I guess you’re kind of worth it.” I gave him a small smile and he leaned over the island, puckering his lips at me. I leaned towards him and connected our lips. 

He turned back around to attend to our breakfast and I got a beautiful view of his back. I think his back muscles were one of my favorite parts of him. The muscles on his broad shoulders rippled as he moved his arm around to create our sandwiches. My eyes traveled down to his massive thighs which made my mouth water. How did this beautiful man end up cooking me breakfast in my kitchen?

To distract myself, I unlocked my phone and my photos app came up with the picture of Dodger and Max that I took. I smiled and opened my Instagram so I could post this picture and stopped myself. “Can I post this on Instagram?” I asked Chris, turning my phone towards him.

“Em, you don’t have to clear with me what to post on your Instagram.” He continued making our breakfast.

“Yeah, but you’re… famous. And you don’t have Instagram so it seems you like to keep your life private. And I don’t want to mess that up for you.”

Chris turned towards me with a smile on his face. He looked at the picture of the dogs and smiled wider. “Is your Instagram private?”

“Yeah, it’s just mostly my family and friends that follow me. But I don’t have to post it.”

“Nah, post it.”

I started thinking it through a bit more. “No, cause then Mike is gonna ask who’s dog it is and I’m not sure what I’ll say. I mean, I’m gonna tell him about you but--”

Chris cut me off and put his hands over mine. “Baby, do you want to post it?”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my face. “Yeah.”

“Then post it.” He turned back to the stove and turned the burners off because everything was finished. He took out two plates and placed them on the counter, putting the sandwiches together.

I opened my Instagram, accepted Scott’s follow and followed him back and then posted the cute pic of our pups. I captioned the picture, _BFFs_ with a dog emoji. Chris pushed my sandwich towards me which I accepted with, “Thank you.” I locked my phone and dove into my breakfast. “What are you up to today?”

Chris swallowed a bite from his sandwich. “I’ve got a few interviews to film for _Defending Jacob_.” 

Chris hadn’t talked about his work much and I really wanted to know more. “I have a countdown on my phone for when it comes out.” I took a bite of my sandwich to stop myself from saying more. “Do you usually watch your own stuff?”

“Oh yeah. Some stuff I see before it comes out. I haven’t seen this yet though.” I really wanted to ask him if we could watch it together but I didn’t know if that was overstepping. He finished his sandwich and looked at the clock on the stove. “My first interview isn’t until two. I don’t have to be home until then.” Chris looked at me, raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“I have to be at the school at eleven to hand out lunches.” I wiped my mouth as I finished the last bite of my sandwich. I picked up both of our plates and put them in the sink. “I should probably get ready.”

“We’ve got,” Chris bounced his head back and forth, thinking, “twenty minutes.”

I turned around ready to ask him what we had twenty minutes for when he picked me up at the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder. “Chris!” I giggled when he started making his way towards my room.

He threw me down on the bed and crawled his way up towards me. He caught my lips in a kiss and started to tangle our tongues together. I slipped around him and turned us so that I was sitting on his lap. I pulled my head back away from him. “This is fun, but I’ve gotta take a shower get ready.” 

I got off him but he caught my wrist to pull me back. I fell on him and he whispered in my ear, “I could join you.” My entire body went hot and I could feel the redness sneaking its way onto my cheeks. 

Even after what happened last night, I don’t know that I was prepared to be fully naked and vulnerable with Chris. I have definitely thought about it. Boy have I thought about it. But, I still think it’s going to take a little while for my head to be fully prepared for that. I’m glad we stopped where we did last night, because if we did have sex, there’s a small part of me that wasn’t ready and would have regretted it.

“Nice try, Cap.” I rolled off him and made my way into the bathroom. Chris groaned as I chuckled and shut the door to the bathroom.

When I returned after taking a shower, Chris was still on my bed but he was now clothed and the dogs were sitting next to him. As I walked into my room, Chris got up off my bed and walked over to me. I was only in a towel, holding it close to my chest so there wouldn’t be any accidental slips. “I wouldn’t mind if you dress like this all the time.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on my mouth as I sat in the chair at my desk.

“Chris you’ve got to go or I’m never gonna get ready,” I laughed. I picked up my brush and started running it through my hair. “But you could come over later for a movie if you want.” I looked at him through the mirror and he smiled.

“See you later.” He dropped a kiss on my forehead and called for Dodger. “Have fun today!” I heard him say on the way out the door. After I returned the sentiment, I heard Dodger’s leash jingling and the door close.

I dried my hair as best I could, but there were still a few strands that were damp so I threw my hair into a bun on my head. After dressing in a t-shirt and jeans, I put Max in his crate which he started whining about. “Sorry Maxy,” I said with a frown. I gave him his treat and pat the top of his head before shutting his crate. “I know you miss doggy day care. But I won’t be gone for too long, okay?” I looked into his sad eyes and had to leave before I tried to conjure up some way to bring him with me.

I made sure to have my mask with me, grabbed my keys and purse and left my house to make my way to the school. I walked over to my car and it felt weird. I’m sure I was feeling like everyone else who was no longer going to work. I used my car everyday and now it felt like some kind of luxury to even have a place to go.

I started the engine and backed out of the driveway, thinking about seeing some of my students today. I really hoped some of them showed up and I would get to see their faces. Well, half of their faces, because everyone needed to wear a mask.

I parked in my usual parking spot which brought a weird eerie feeling to my stomach. It felt like the last time I was here was a lifetime ago. I saw that there was a tent set up at the front of the school with the principal, some teachers and a few of the lunch staff ready to give out meals to students.

There were several different stations and I was manning the sandwiches. They were prepackaged and I was given rubber gloves and was instructed not to let them touch anything. Families were given a plastic shopping bag and decided what food they wanted. There were sandwiches, salads, even packaged up pizza to make! It was really impressive. At some point, someone came to take our picture to advertise the service on the school’s website. Any student in the district, even if they weren’t a member of our school, was allowed to come and grab lunch or dinner.

It was about 12:30 when I checked my watch and heard, “Ms. Barrett!” I looked over to the voice and saw Teddy opening the door to his mom’s car. I immediately smiled in his direction. He shut the door and ran towards me. “Ms. Barrett, I hate coronavirus! I want to give you a hug!”

I sent him a smile, even though he couldn’t see me behind my mask and said, “We’ll have to do socially distant hugging! Ready?” I made a circle with my arms and moved my hands like I was patting him on the back. He laughed and did the same motion. “Oh, thank you for my hug Teddy! I needed that!”

Teddy’s mom came over to me with two shopping bags in her hand and three boys, younger than Teddy, following after her. “This is my baby brother, Peter!” Teddy picked up the little boy who was probably no older.

“Hi Peter!” I said towards him. “Can I interest you guys in some sandwiches?” I gestured to the table in front of me. Kelly picked out a few sandwiches and I put them in her bags. She seemed a little reserved and only took one for each of them. “We have plenty, take whatever you want!” She looked down and asked for two more to be put in her bag. Then, Teddy and his family moved on down the line to grab other food.

Before leaving, Teddy’s family came back over to me to say bye and he reminded me that he was going to see me tomorrow. “Can’t wait!” He helped his mom get the food and his brothers in the car and they waved as they pulled out of the parking lot.

I frowned and was happy I wore a mask so that no one could see me. Kelly was taking care of four boys all under the age of ten during a pandemic and everyday on social media, there was a new person who was upset that they had to stay inside and wear a mask. I shook my head, getting rid of those thoughts and served sandwiches to the next family in front of me.

After helping clean up and putting food back into the large fridges in the school's kitchen, I made my way to my car and back home. Pulling into my driveway and turning off the car, I stopped for a moment. Last year during April vacation, I was off in Europe on a mother-daughter trip with my mom. It’s crazy how fast things change.

I walked into my house and immediately let Max out of his crate and put him on the leash to take him outside. I pulled my phone from my back pocket, tapping on the screen with my thumb to bring up my mom’s number.

I had decided that I was going to call her to find out when a good time was to meet Chris. I was really nervous about what she was going to say. I figured I would get her call out of the way and then call Mike because he would be the easy one.

As soon as Max and I got back into the house, I sat down on my couch and pressed the call button before I chickened out. “Hi sweetie!” I heard my mom’s voice and it immediately sent a calmness through my body.

“Hi mom!” I smiled and shifted myself on the couch to rest my arm on the back of the couch.

“How are you?” I could hear shuffling around and it seemed like she was in the middle of something.

“Are you busy? I can call back later.”

“No, no!” I swear I could see her swatting her hand back and forth like she always did. My mother was a force but she was the sweetest woman ever. She would give a stranger the coat off her back if they needed it more than her. I only hope that I could be half of the mom she is when I have kids. “I always have time for you sweetheart! What’s up?” It now sounded like she had settled down, probably sitting on her couch the same way I was.

“Well, um,” I started. I could feel my hands getting sweaty, the usual response to my anxiety. “Do you and dad have some time for a Zoom chat maybe this Friday?” There. That was a safe way to get into this conversation.

“Oh sure!” I heard her laugh. “But sweetheart, you don’t have to call to set up a video chat! You should have just texted or FaceTimed me!” Now it was my turn to laugh. I don’t know when she became so tech savvy, I guess quarantine was making her a new woman.

“Well, um, actually I need to schedule it to make sure my friend’s available for you to meet him.” I looked up at the ceiling and silently scolded myself. He wasn’t my friend and I didn’t want him to be. I quickly corrected myself before she could say anything. “Um, I mean, my boyfriend. He’s my boyfriend.”

“Oh. Oh. Oh.” My mom went through a myriad of emotions with those three words. The first was surprise. The second held so many questions. The final one sounded like she was excited. “Okay.”

“Wait, really?”

She chuckled. “Sure. But you’ve got to tell me a little bit about him first and how you met someone in a quarantine.” There it was. That was the meddling mom that I knew.

“Um, well, his name is Chris and he’s my neighbor’s son. He is usually in California but came to spend time with his mom for quarantine.” Absentmindedly, I nervously pulled at a piece of hair that had fallen out of my bun.

“And how long has this been going on?”

I bit my lip, remembering when she called me and Chris was here. I suddenly felt terrible for hiding him from her, but I didn’t want to sit through twenty questions back when I wasn’t sure what was happening between Chris and I. “Um, well he just started being my boyfriend yesterday. But we’ve been hanging out for like... two weeks?”

“Well if you like him, I’m sure he’s great. I can’t wait to meet him. Too bad it can’t be in person.”

“I know. I contemplated waiting but I felt kind of bad because I’ve already met his entire family except for his dad and I really want you guys to meet him.” I paused for a moment. “I really like him mom.”

“Well then! Even more of a reason to meet him! Tell me more!”

Once getting past the original anxiety I had over telling my mom, confiding in her felt amazing. I told her about our first meeting, our walk at Walden Pond and our movie night. I even texted her the picture of Chris and I with our dogs. She said Dodger was super cute and even added that Chris was too which made me blush.

“Do you want me to tell your dad?” I smiled shyly. She knew me too well. I didn’t say anything and she just said, “I’ll make sure he behaves on the call.” My dad was very old school and overprotective of me. Even in my thirties. As he says, “No matter how old you are, I never stop being your dad.”

“Alright mom, I’ve gotta call Mike and Olivia now to let them know too! Love you!”

“Love you sweetheart! So good to talk to you!” I smiled, hanging up after saying bye one more time.

Max jumped up on the couch as I scrolled through my phone for Mike’s number. I pressed the phone icon to call him and started petting Max on the head as I held the phone up to my ear. “Hey Em! What’s up?”

“Hi Mike! I’ve got a question for you and Olivia!” Max looked up at me as I started to scratch behind his ear. I puckered my lips and sent him a kiss.

“Olivia just settled in to take a bath but I can put the phone on speaker if you want.”

If it wasn’t obvious by now, my blush and sweaty hands have returned. “Oh, that’s okay! It’s really quick. I just need to know if you guys are available for a Zoom call on Friday night? Well I mean it would be like the afternoon for you guys because of the time difference but mom and dad are gonna be there too--”

“Em, what’s going on? You’re rambling,” he said and chuckled. 

“Um, well there’s this guy I’ve been seeing and he’s kind of my boyfriend and it’s not really a convenient time because we’re in the middle of a pandemic but I wanted you to meet him.” I started biting my lip because he didn’t say anything.

“Wait, really?” He let out a breath. “Oh my gosh, I totally thought you were messing with me. You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, we’re available. Just let me know what time.” I smiled and before I could speak, Mike started talking again. “Good thing it’s Friday so I can start getting all my interrogation questions together.”

“Mike.” I rolled my eyes but smiled. “He’s a nice guy, go easy on him.”

“Hey, I just gotta make sure he’s good for my little sis.”

“Mike, I’m older than you.”

“Yeah but you’re shorter than me.” I scoffed but it turned into a laugh. “And I gotta make sure this guy’s the best for my sister.”

“Oh god, now I’m glad you’re not meeting in person. If you start anything, I’m totally hanging up on you.”

“Oh come on! You wouldn’t do that to your favorite brother!” I heard a voice which I assumed was Olivia and Mike said that he had to go. I smiled at how good of a husband he was and it only made me realize how much I missed him. I wished I lived closer to Mike or my parents but my job and the kids that I teach meant so much to me that I couldn’t imagine ever living somewhere else.

After hanging up with Mike, I made myself a bit of lunch and drowned out the world with some social media. Which I know was bad for me because I usually ended up comparing myself to others. It’s great to be informed and stay in touch with people but it was so toxic and being home all day was not helping me curb my addiction.

I smiled at the comment my mom left on my Instagram photo of Max and Dodger. “Such handsome boys!” I’m telling you, she was a technology guru all of a sudden.

I was scrolling through Instagram and moved over to the Explore page which proved to be a mistake. I guess because I had searched Chris to see if he had an Instagram, pictures of him were showing up.

Now, I cannot say that I’m proud of myself for this but I’m only human and a post of Chris’s arms wrapped around another girl caught my eye. I clicked on the post and the caption was “Chris Evans’ Girlfriends” and it was a slideshow of Chris with all of the girls he dated. Well great. This is not how I wanted to spend my afternoon but here we go.

I may have been confident and comfortable in my own skin but I still couldn’t help compare myself to these women. Max began whining like he knew what I was doing so I shook my head and closed Instagram. I bit my lip and started tapping my foot, looking out the back window as a battle went on in my head.

Those might have been Chris’s past girlfriends, but I was his now. He had chosen to be with me now. He asked me to be his girlfriend, not one of the many actresses he probably had in his DMs every day. That thought sent a warm feeling throughout my stomach. It was true. This wonderful man was just in my bed this morning. In this short time he had made me feel secure, confident, and most of all, safe.

And I couldn’t wait for him to get here tonight to show him how much I appreciated him.

***

I was currently sitting on my couch, fidgeting with a loose thread on the bottom of my satin robe. The feeling of it was silky and soft against my skin and the lilac color was one of my favorites. Underneath it I was wearing a white lace bra and matching underwear. It wasn’t a scratchy kind of lace which I was thankful for. But, I had still gotten up three different times to change only to decide against it and sit back on my couch.

Chris had texted me that he’d be over at about seven, so when the clock struck 7:00, my nerves were on high alert. I still wasn’t planning on taking it all the way tonight, but I wanted to return the favor that Chris had given me last night. Mostly I was nervous because the only other sexual partner I had was Kevin and I tried to give him a blowjob once and while I liked it, he didn’t so we never did it again. There was a desire deep inside me that remembered last night and knew Chris would probably like it, but I was still afraid I wouldn’t be any good at it.

At 7:08 my doorbell rang and I knew this was the right decision because all the nerves faded away from my body and were replaced with excitement. 

With my hand on the door knob, I bit down on the inside of my cheek. I pulled the door open and smiled when I saw Chris on the other side. He was dressed in a basic white t-shirt and jeans and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. As I looked up to his face I could see that he was having the same problem.

I looked down and noticed that my robe had fallen open a bit from getting up and as I tried to tie it tighter to me, Chris’s hands shot forward and stopped me. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” He kept his eyes on me as he closed my front door with his foot. 

A small smile made its way to my face. He was fighting looking into my eyes and looking at my body. “I wanted to return the favor.” I rose up on my toes to whisper in his ear. “Make you feel as good as you made me feel last night.” I placed a kiss underneath his ear.

He pushed me against the wall and crashed his lips against mine. His hands went inside my robe to caress my hips. They moved their way to my butt, grabbing both cheeks firmly and pulling me against him, feeling his hard member. I moaned and pushed my tongue into his mouth.

He detached his mouth from mine and began trailing kisses down my neck. I gasped as he lightly bit down on my collar bone and felt it deep within my center, getting wetter by the second. I wasn’t used to being this turned on so quickly. I think it was awakening something in me that I didn’t want to shut away.

“Chris,” I moaned his name as he continued trailing kisses down my chest, my belly, and then leaving one at the top of my underwear. I pulled him up towards me and said, “No. It’s _your_ turn.” I held out my hand for his and when he placed it in mine, I led him to my bedroom.

I pushed his shoulders so that he fell down onto my bed and bit my lip again. “My sexy, beautiful, girl.” As I climbed my way onto the bed, his hands moved to pull me towards him. He connected our mouths again.

I pulled us apart and looked at him seriously. “Chris.” I was holding his hands between us and saw the dark desire in his eyes that I’m sure was mirrored in mine. “You told me you wanted me to tell you what I wanted.”

He nodded his head. “Always, baby girl.” He brought one of my hands up to his face and kissed it.

“I, um… I’m not ready for sex, yet. But I’d like to take you in my mouth, if you want me to.”

I could hear his breath getting shallow and his hips thrust towards me as I was sitting on his lap. “Baby girl, you don’t have to.”

I shook my head and kissed him. “I want to. I’ve only ever done it once before and I don’t think it was good because he didn’t like it, so you might have to guide me. But, it’s something I want,” I smiled. “If it’s something you want too.”

He pulled me to him and we began kissing again. “I want to fuck your hot mouth.” The soft kisses became harder and my nipples instantly hardened at his words. I had never had those words said to me and I didn’t realize how much it would turn me on.

I laid myself on top of Chris and started pulling at his shirt to lift it over his head. He helped me and discarded it on the ground. I snaked my hand down between us and grabbed him through his jeans. He moaned and I began unbuttoning his jeans, pushing them off his incredibly toned legs.

I threw my robe off me because it was sweltering in my room and Chris moved to sit at the edge of my bed, which I was grateful for because it looked like it would be a better angle. He tangled his hands in my hair and slightly pulled on it as I knelt in front of him and reached into his boxers.

I ran my fingers along the length of his throbbing cock, looking him in the eyes. He threw his head back and moaned, still pulling at my hair. I felt so sexy getting this response from him and my mouth started watering.

I slipped my hands out of his boxers and trailed my hands down his body. I ran my fingers over a tattoo on his side and placed a kiss on it.

Finally making my way back to his boxers, I pulled them off him. He arched his back to help me and I discarded them behind me. My eyes met his erection and I instantly grabbed the base of it. “Fuck,” he breathed out. His cock was pointing upwards and I rubbed it up and down, getting a good look at it. It wasn’t too small nor too big. I bent down to lick the precum dripping from the tip and received a deep, throaty sound from him.

I looked up at him as I took him in my mouth and he sucked in a breath. His hands were guiding my head as I sucked him all the way to the back of my throat. I popped him out and licked from the base all the way to the tip and then he thrust himself into my mouth again.

His breathing was becoming deeper as he started thrusting to meet my own pattern of bobbing up and down on him. I brought up my hands to cup his balls. “Holy shit, Em.” We kept our pace going for a bit longer until Chris’s thrusts started getting sloppy. “Fuck. Em, I’m--”

He fell from my mouth and his cum shot out onto my chest. His head was thrown back and his chest was heaving. I got up and went over to my desk to grab a tissue, wiped my chest clean and dropped it into the trash. I sauntered back over to him and knelt back down, one of my hands on each of his knees.

He pressed a hot kiss to my mouth and pulled me up so that we could lay down on my bed. “How did any man ever tell you they didn’t like _that_ ,” he said which made me blush and look away. “Baby girl, how are you so shy when you’ve got this sexual beast inside you.” He began kissing me again and started using his hands to knead my breasts, making me moan.

Chris peeled my bra off and his mouth immediately attached itself to one of my breasts, his hand going to the other one. I threw my head back and closed my eyes, feeling the pleasure. I could feel him start to kiss down my chest and my belly, like he had done before. This time, he spread my legs the slightest bit and pressed a kiss against the inside of each of my thighs.

His hand traced down the center of my mound and I sucked in a breath. I looked at him and he held a questioning in his eyes, asking me if this was okay. “Yes, Chris. Please.” I nodded.

He dragged his hand down my center once again. “You’re so wet.” He brought his mouth back up to mine and slipped a finger into my underwear, causing a whimpering sound to come out of my mouth. I felt his finger run itself over my folds and part them aside, putting the slightest pressure on my clit.

“Oh my _god_ ,” I breathed out.

Chris removed his mouth from mine and I instantly missed his lips. I wasn’t prepared for what he did next. He hooked his fingers onto the sides of my panties and slid them down my legs. He pinched my clit again and then I felt his hot breath on my most sensitive area.

“Chris!” I yelped. “Fuck.” 

His tongue worked on me, licking my clit like it was a frozen popsicle on the hottest day of the summer. I was already so worked up that he had me writhing underneath him. “Fuck, you taste so sweet.” I started gasping and didn’t let myself go until I heard Chris say, “Go ahead, Em. Let it all go.” One of the best orgasms I’d ever had overtook me and Chris kept his mouth on me until I was finished.

He crawled back up towards me and laid down. I smiled at him and he kissed my forehead. “You’re trouble,” I said with a chuckle. “But I don’t hate it.”

He wrapped his arms around me and cuddled me close to his side. “To think you were so close to me this whole time and I’ve been fucking around with stupid girls that don’t mean anything.” I felt him shake his head and my heart started beating faster. It was almost like he knew I had been comparing myself to his prior girlfriends earlier today.

My stomach growled, making us both laugh. “I forgot I hadn’t had dinner.” I looked away from him. “I was too nervous.”

“Nervous for what?” He asked, incredulously. He pushed himself off my bed saying, “C’mon. I gotta cook my woman some food.”

He quickly put his boxers back on and threw me his shirt to wear. I put it on and took in its scent. It smelled just like him and I wished he had brought something else to wear home so that I could keep his shirt. I was surprised that even with the tiny shirts he wore, it still hit me just below the butt.

I padded out to the kitchen and found Chris looking in my freezer. He took out a frozen pizza and held it out to me, asking if I wanted some. I nodded my head and watched him put the oven on and stick the pizza inside. 

He came over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, placing a kiss on my temples. “What are you doing Friday night?” I asked, biting my cheek. I realized that I set up our meeting with my family before even asking him if he was free.

“I’ve got an interview Friday morning, but nothing during the night, why?”

“Well, I called my family and asked if they were free on Friday for a Zoom call so they could meet you,” I said, excitedly.

“I’ll be there.” He leaned down to me and puckered his lips. I smiled and met him halfway, kissing his mouth. It was quick but I loved his sweet kisses. His lips felt like they were made to be against mine.

When the timer on the oven chimed, Chris took the pizza out of the oven. I grabbed two plates for us and we dove into our dinner. After dinner, Chris and I showered together. We didn’t do anything, I swear. Well aside from a lot of kisses because I couldn’t get enough of those soft, supple lips.

This time I made sure to set my alarm before we fell asleep, cuddled in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your continued love! I just went back to work in our virtual summer program so I've been pretty busy, which is why this has taken so long! Let me know how you like the chapter! I already have the next one half written so it should be coming soon. :D


	11. Chapter 11

I was filled with equal parts nervousness and excitement for Chris and my family to meet over Zoom tonight. The week had been so excruciatingly slow that I never thought today would come.

On Tuesday I was woken up to a great deal of messages from Tina and Ashlee because I had missed girls’ night the night before. I felt absolutely awful, especially knowing what I was doing instead of talking with my friends. We scheduled a girls’ afternoon when I was finished volunteering at the school that day.

“Guys, I’m so sorry!” I said immediately as they appeared on my screen. “I totally lost track of time!” 

“Oh yeah, what were you doing that kept you so busy?” Ashlee asked suggestively.

I smiled and tried to hide it behind my hand, making Ashlee and Tina widen their eyes. “What were you doing?!” Tina leaned into the camera and the blush crept its way onto my face.

“Well my boyfriend may have been here.” I covered my face with both of my hands as I heard my friends yelling in delight.

“You’re joking!” Ashlee said. I shook my head. “Emily, I’m so happy for you. He seems like such a good guy!”

“It’s been like two days but I’m so happy guys.” I took a look at my face on the screen and could see the lovestruck look on it. 

“So what? Were you too busy making out yesterday to remember you had friends?” Tina blinked her eyes and tilted her head into the camera.

The blush darkened on my cheeks and I said. “That, and maybe other things.”

After chatting about Chris some more, but not offering up all the dirty details, we decided that sometime soon we’d get together for socially distant ice cream. I had seen a video of friends that were sitting in the back of their trunks in a parking lot and having ice cream and talking, so we’re going to try it sometime soon.

On Wednesday it was nice out so Max and I decided to sit outside so that I could get some work done on next week’s assignments. I had just gotten back from volunteering at the school where I had seen Teddy again. He gave me a card with a big heart on the front that read “My favorite teacher!” on the inside. It was currently hanging on my fridge.

I was typing up questions based on a video the students were going to watch on photosynthesis when I heard Lisa’s back door open. Chris stepped out wearing nothing but grey joggers and holding a water bottle. I looked at him but he didn’t look at me so I furrowed my brow in confusion.

Keeping my eyes on him, I watched as he fiddled on his phone for a bit. All of a sudden “My Girl” by The Temptations started playing from his phone and he looked at me with a smirk on his face. He faced me as he dropped down to the ground and started doing push ups.

I threw my head back in laughter and shook my head. I tried to continue writing up my questions but could see Chris just over the top of my computer screen. He caught my eye and winked at me. “What are you doing?” I yelled over to him.

He continued his push ups as he started singing the song. “I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way. My girl, my girl, my girl. Talking ‘bout my girl.” I shook my head at him again.

“Stop distracting me, I’m trying to get work done.” I went back to typing on my laptop but I had to reread my questions because I lost my train of thought.

“Who’s distracting you? I’m just trying to work out.” He smirked. He did one final push up and got up. He was still facing me and started doing jumping jacks. I caught his eye again and shook my head.

Once “My Girl” ended, another song began to play which had me laughing again. “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. “Are you kidding me?” I leaned my elbow on my chair and rested my head against my hand, shaking it while smiling. “No one works out to these songs!” 

After doing a few more jumping jacks, he started jogging in place. He then started jogging my way. He closed the space between us, coming up the stairs to my deck and stopping in front of me. He put one hand on each of the arms of my chair and leaned down to kiss me. Then, he turned around and ran back to his mom’s deck. He did that about five more times. The fifth time, he sat down in a chair on my deck and said, “I think this is my favorite work out.”

On Thursday Scott came over and we had a _RuPaul’s Drag Race_ marathon. Scott was such a positive light and absolutely hilarious. He was just the type of person I wanted in my life and I was thrilled to be creating a friendship with him. I hadn’t seen the last few episodes so he was rewatching them with me.

The queens were creating their looks for the Snatch Game when Scott’s phone rang. “Hey bro.” He looked over at me and raised his eyebrows, making me giggle. “I told you I was going to Em’s. Did you finish recording?” I busied myself with my phone, trying not to listen to their conversation. “No, I’m not running with you again, I told you. Take Dodge, he’ll keep up.” He paused for a moment and leaned away from the phone, over to me. “Chris says hi.”

I puckered my lips and made a kissing sound at the phone. “I miss you!” I said loud enough so that hopefully he could hear.

“No I’m not telling her that!” Scott said which made me laugh and wonder what Chris said. He leaned over to me again, “He said it’s taco night so you should come over for dinner.”

“I love tacos!”

Chris and Scott spoke for another minute or so before ending the phone call. Scott shook his head, laughing. “He’s an idiot.”

“He’s meeting my parents tomorrow and I’m really excited but mostly nervous.” I turned toward Scott, biting my lip. Max was sitting between us on the couch and I started scratching behind his ears.

“Don’t even worry, he’ll charm the pants off your parents.” Scott paused for a moment, trying to read my face. “You know, when he first met you, he couldn’t stop talking about you. And once he had you, I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away.” Scott wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making me laugh and peaking my interest.

“You’re not serious.” 

“Are you kidding me? The first thing he said to me was, ‘What do you know about ma’s beautiful neighbor?’” I blushed intensely. “He is a hopeless romantic with the biggest heart that I know. But don’t worry, I’ll beat him up if he hurts you.” Scott and I laughed and turned our attention back to the tv.

Now it was Friday and I was anxiously waiting for it to be 7:00 so that Chris and my family would meet. I was so nervous that I was cleaning the entire house. I even took out my duster and was cleaning in between the blinds on the windows. My family was only going to see my shoulders and I was making sure there wasn’t an inch of dust in my house, that’s how nervous I was.

I couldn’t pinpoint the reason for my nervousness, especially because it’s not like my family was going to be here in person. My last boyfriend didn’t meet my family until we had been dating for about four months and my family loved him. I wasn’t sure who was more upset when we broke up, my mom or my dad.

As I started loading the dishwasher, my doorbell rang. Max’s ears perked up and he gave a low bark, curious as to who was at the door. Chris was at the door and while I was excited to see him, I was a bit confused because he wasn’t supposed to be coming over until later. It was only about 2:00. “Chris? Not that I’m not excited to see you, but I thought you weren’t coming over ‘til later.”

“Yeah I know.” He sighed. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” I opened the door a bit wider to let him in. He rested his hand on my shoulder and leaned in to press a kiss to my lips. “Everything okay?”

He crouched down to pet Max and say hello to him. I was confused and a bit concerned why he was here and acting a bit strange. After petting Max for a bit, he stood up and leaned his arms on the island. “Em, I’m so sorry. I’ve got a really important meeting that just came up and we can’t move it so I can’t be on the Zoom call tonight.”

Oh. That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.

He saw the look on my face and walked over to be closer to me. He continued, “I’ve been working on this project for two years, and we’ve been waiting on a meeting with our lawyers for a month and a half and they had time tonight. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, I know. I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you.” I looked down at my hands and started picking at one of my nails. Chris grabbed my hands and intertwined them with his own, making me look up at you. “I’m not taking any meetings tomorrow. We’ll spend all day together and I’ll meet your family.”

I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what to say. I had been waiting all week for this, and now I would have to cancel on my family. Since meeting Chris, I had given little thought to the problems that might come with his job. And now here was one of them. But, while I was upset, I couldn’t be mad. My job was so important to me that I probably would have done the same thing.

“Em?” He widened his stance and bent his knees a bit so that we were eye level with each other. The look on his face showed how sorry he was. I believed him that if he could change it he would.

I sighed. “Okay so not gonna lie--I’m upset.” I bit my lip and looked away. “But I just think about how much I care about my job and I’d probably do the same thing.”

He pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. “You have every right to be mad at me. I’m sorry.”

I looked up at him. “Chris, I’m not mad. I’m disappointed, yes. But I’m not mad at you. I’ll only let you off the hook if you tell me about the project.”

Chris and I walked over to the couch and sat down. He enthusiastically launched into a spiel about how his project started. It’s called A Starting Point and it’s a political platform that houses Democrat and Republican answers to some of the most popular issues. Chris was so enthusiastic when talking about this that I could tell it meant a lot to him. He was nervously pulling at his fingers and kept sheepishly looking up at me, as if searching for my approval.

“This sounds amazing. I will honestly use that website. I always spend so much time researching the issues and feeling like an idiot when someone’s talking about something I don’t understand. What a cool idea!” 

“Yes, exactly! I desperately needed one spot to hear all the issues. And I just wanted to hear the answer in a way that the typical person could understand.”

I smiled at him and moved a bit closer. “I love how passionate you are about it.”

“It’s been a long time coming. We’re going live with it in the summer. It’s nerve wracking.” He brought my legs into his lap and started rubbing my feet. A fantasy I didn’t know I had. “Politics is such a hard topic for people.”

“People don’t listen to each other anymore. Too many people talk to hear their own voices.” One of his hands started rubbing up and down my calf. “You can have differing opinions but still listen to each other and hear what that person’s saying.”

“I’m always so interested in hearing other people’s points of view. But if it doesn’t make sense, I can tend to go off. Especially if it’s the fucking idiot that’s running the country that’s talking.” I laughed, mostly because of what he said but also because his foot massage was becoming ticklish. “My mom has yelled at me because she finds what I write on Twitter sometimes.”

“It’s kind of hard not to say anything when he spouts off all his nonsense.”

“Don’t even get me started on him.” Chris’s phone started ringing and he dug into his pocket to see who was calling him. “It’s Mark, my partner. I’ve gotta go,” he said sadly. “Hey Mark!” He answered the phone. “Call you back in five, okay?”

I got up off the couch and walked towards my front door with Chris following behind me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I leaned up and delicately placed a kiss to his lips.

“I’m still really sorry.” He wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me in for a hug. I reciprocated by wrapping my arms around his waist and buried my face into his chest.

“Don’t be!” I looked up at him. “Besides, you’ll just have to spend the night knowing how sexy I think it is that you’re so smart and really passionate about your work.” I giggled as he threw his head back and groaned and then leaned down to kiss me. I detached our lips and pushed myself away from him. “Call Mark back, your five minutes is up!”

He opened my front door, walking back to me to give me another kiss. “I hope this doesn’t take all night because I’m coming back later.” With one final kiss he was jogging back towards his mom’s house with the phone pressed to his ear. He turned around and blew me a kiss before starting to talk to the person on the other line and disappearing into the house.

I shut the door, turned around and sighed. Looking down at Max I said, “Well that’s a bummer.” I grabbed Max a treat and had him sit and lay down for me before letting him devour it. “Good boy.” I smiled at him and gave him a pat on his head. “Guess I gotta call grandma, huh?” I said to him in a baby voice and made my way back over to the couch.

I knew that I should call my family but I was too scared of how they would respond. I also knew my voice would reveal that I was disappointed and I didn’t want to get into that. I scrolled down to our family group chat and typed my message. _Hi guys, I hope it’s not too inconvenient but something came up for Chris tonight, so can we video chat tomorrow instead?_ Before sending, I reread the text a few times.

After a few minutes, a message came from my brother but it wasn’t in our family group text. _Em, are you really cancelling? You’re just trying to hide that fact that he’s not real._

I rolled my eyes. My mom messaged back saying, _Of course! Who has anything to do in quarantine?_ which made me laugh.

 _Mike! Why would I lie to you?!_ I scrolled through my phone and found a picture of Chris and I to send to him. _Here’s your proof._

Immediately my phone rang and I smirked to myself because it was Mike. “Okay, now you’re just completely fucking with me.”

“Mike, I would have literally no reason to fuck with you.”

“Emily,” he said and he paused. It sounded like he took the phone away from his face. “You photoshopped that photo.”

“No,” I said slowly, trying to get him to understand. “That’s me and my boyfriend Chris.” 

“Emily,” he paused again. “That’s Chris _Evans_. He plays Captain America,” he said in the same slow pattern that I did. I started laughing. I had totally forgotten he was an avid Marvel fan. “Why are you laughing?”

“Michael. Lisa _Evans_ is my neighbor. When quarantine started, her son, Chris _Evans_ , came to stay with her and we met. And started hanging out and then started dating.” I finished with a small chuckle. “And yes, it just so happens that he is in fact Captain America.”

“Holy shit, Emily. You’re serious.”

Rolling my eyes at him I said, “Yes Michael. I’m serious!”

“So you’re telling me you know Captain America?”

Oh boy, Mike. I nodded. “Yes.”

“And you’re dating him?” He said it as more of a statement so I didn’t answer that question, I just laughed.

“And now you have an extra day to wrap your brain around it.” He was silent for a moment so I asked, “Mike?”

“Uh, yep. Okay. I’m good.” Max jumped up next to me on the couch and I started rubbing his back.

“I would say try not to embarrass me but I think you’ll have a harder time not embarrassing yourself.” I heard his boisterous laugh on the other line which made me smile. “Sorry we had to cancel for tonight, Chris has some work to do.”

“It’s not a problem, Em. I’m actually kind of thankful. I don’t know what I would have done if he just showed up on the screen.” He was silent for another moment and just as I was about to ask him how Olivia was doing, he said, “Is he good to you?” It was in a very small and serious voice, but very indicative of my brother.

“In the brief time that I’ve known him and dated him, he’s been nothing but amazing to me, Mike.” I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. “It doesn’t make sense sometimes that we haven’t known each other forever.”

“Hold on to that Em. The best thing in life is finding your best friend to love forever.” I know that he was talking about Olivia which made me smile lovingly.

“Speaking of your best friend to love, how is Olivia and my little niece or nephew doing?” I asked excitedly, shifting myself on the couch and resting my feet on the coffee table.

“They’re doing good. The mood swings and morning sickness is rough, but I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” That’s my brother. He’s so positive and loving and was going to be the best father there was, second only to our own.

“There’s gonna be a cute little squish at the end!” I squealed in delight. “Mike, you’re gonna be such a good dad.”

“Yeah,” he said and I could hear the smile and love in his voice. “Well listen, tomorrow will work just fine. And thanks for the heads up. I’ll try not to fanboy too bad.”

I laughed at that. “Thanks Mike. I’ll send you a Zoom link tomorrow! Talk to you then!” After he said his goodbyes I quickly added, “I love you! And tell Olivia and the little squish I love them too!”

“I will. Bye Em.”

We hung up and I smiled, looking over at Max. “That went pretty okay, huh?” Max sneezed in response which made me laugh. I pet his head in response to that and then kissed him on the top of his nose.

***

Going to sleep that night was a bit uncomfortable because cramps were settling into my stomach. Period cramps were the bane of my existence and I always knew when I would get my period because the cramps started the night before, and they were the worst for the first two days.

I was lying in my bed when at about 9 pm I received a text from Chris. _Interested in company?_ He included a smiley face emoji which made me smile in response. I definitely wanted to see him but I was already snug in my bed and didn’t really want to get up to answer the door and let him in.

I opened my camera app and turned the camera around to face me and take a selfie. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was sleeping with the covers pulled up all the way to my chin. _Already asleep, sorry!_

Three dots started dancing on the screen letting me know Chris was typing his response. _What’s under the blanket? ;)_

I picked up my covers and looked down at my blue striped sheets and laughed. Again, I opened my camera app and took a picture. I sent it to him with the text, _Another blanket._

Immediately my phone started ringing, making me throw my head back in laughter but instantly answering. “Now Em, that’s no fair.”

“You asked and I answered!” I leaned up a bit so that I was sitting on my bed and leaning onto my headboard with my pillow underneath my shoulders.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Well maybe you should specify next time, Cap.” 

“I just got out of the shower,” he teased.

“Wow,” I said in a low voice. “You must be really clean then.” I bit my lip to hide my laughter. “Did you get behind your ears?”

“I thought about you the whole time.” His voice was low and raspy, making me shiver. He was silent and I waited for a moment. “After you gave me a hard on when I left your house, thinking about you finding me sexy.” I could feel the heat rising in my body, especially between my legs. “I’ve been thinking about how good you taste and how much I love it.” I gasped with no sound leaving my mouth. He clearly knew what he was doing to me. “I’ve been thinking about the noises you make and your tight mouth on my dick.”

I sucked in a deep breath and licked my lips. “Chris,” I groaned.

“Mmm, yes baby girl?” He tried to sound so innocent like he hadn’t just said everything he did. I narrowed my eyes. Fucker. Alright, I can throw down too then.

I bit my lip and smiled. “I sleep naked,” I whispered. It wasn’t true, but he didn’t need to know that. I pretended to yawn. “But I’m tired, so I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Em,” he whined, complaining. “I’m gonna need another shower.” I heard him mumble under his breath which brought the blush to my cheeks.

“Goodnight,” I said in a sing-song voice and chuckled under my breath.

“See you tomorrow, baby,” Chris said before hanging up and making me fall asleep, yet again, with a smile on my face.

I woke up in the morning, groaning and just wanting to lay on the couch all day. My uterus was attacking me which wasn’t a very nice reward for what I thought was the success of not getting pregnant. I had slept in a bit, so it was about 10:00 when I woke up. I immediately went to the bathroom, deciding on wearing a pad for the day. I usually went for tampons, but with being stuck at home, a pad would just be more comfortable to lay around in.

I trudged my way to the bathroom closet and grabbed my heating pad. Holding it in my hand and Max dancing at my feet, I made my way to the microwave and opened it. I put the heating pad inside and pressed the buttons to cook it for sixty seconds. While it was heating up, I made my way over to Max’s food bowl to feed him.

I picked up his bowl and grabbed his kibbel out of the cabinet. After putting his bowl back down and smiling at him as he ran over to it, the microwave beeped and I took my heating pad out. It was a bit hot to the touch so I had to pass it through my hands, not holding it in one for too long. I made my way over to the couch and put my heating pad on my lower stomach. When Max was finished with his food, he jumped up to lay at my feet.

I took my phone out of my sweatshirt pocket and looked at it for the first time since waking up. There were two messages from Chris that he sent about a half hour ago asking what I was up to today and when he should come over, and then asking if everything was alright because I was usually awake by now.

_Hi. I’m alright, but not feeling well so I’m just gonna rest on the couch and you can come over later for the Zoom call._

It didn’t take long for his response to come in. _Everything okay? You sick?_ He added another message with a sad face emoji.

I started to compose the message _Yeah, just my period and cramps_ , but then erased the message. I’m not sure why but even in my thirties, I still felt like there was a stigma and embarrassment about having a period. Especially the fact that my cramps were so bad that I wanted to do nothing but lay on my couch. I sighed and shook my head, deciding to text him the truth because why the hell not? _Got my period and my cramps are killing me._ I composed the message four different times before finally landing on that.

When I read his response, tears stung at the back of my eyes and I blamed it on my hormones being out of whack. _The best medicine for that is some extreme cuddling._

There was a battle going on in my head because I obviously wanted to see him, and who could say no to that text message? But also, it was early in our relationship and this was a state not many people got to see me in. Taking a minute to weigh my options, the desire to see him and cuddle with him outweighed any negative thoughts and I sent him, _Only if you’re prescribing it Dr. Evans._

 _Give me thirty minutes?_ Although it felt like a statement, he added a question mark, making me smile because he was still asking if it was okay to come over. I sent him a gif of a little kid pumping his hands up and down yelling “yes!”

I scrolled through social media for a bit before putting my phone on the coffee table and picking up the remote. I opened Netflix and scrolled through, looking for a movie to watch. I was hoping that Chris wouldn’t mind a good romantic comedy because that was my typical period cramp movie of choice.

The doorbell rang as I was scrolling through, making me and Max jump off the couch. I threw my heating pad next to my phone and followed Max to the door. Max started sniffing and sent out a little bark, indicating to me that Dodger probably came with Chris. When I got to the door, I took in the sight of my boyfriend who had his dog in one hand and a plate of chocolate chip cookies wrapped in saran wrap in the other.

“Hi,” I said with a slight pout which turned into a smile. Chris let Dodger in my house and him and Max greeted each other with sniffs. Chris wrapped me in a one armed hug and kissed the top of my head. “Are those chocolate chip cookies?” I tried to pick at the plate but he pulled it away from me.

“Maybe,” he said with a small smile.

I smiled sweetly. Damn my hormones coming back. “You made me cookies?” I puckered my lips, looking up at him and he kissed me chastely.

“I figured comfort food was good and you can’t go wrong with chocolate chip cookies.” He shrugged and smiled at me. I smiled back and gave him another kiss. “How are you feeling?”

I went back over to the couch and plopped down on it, throwing the heating pad on top of me again. “Blah,” I said with a slight laugh.

Dodger barked at Max as they rolled around on the ground with each other, making me laugh. Chris looked down at me from his standing position beside me on the couch. He still had the plate of cookies in his hand. He put them down on the coffee table and sat down on the small amount of couch where my feet were.

I picked up the remote and flipped back Netflix. “So when I have extreme cramps, I usually watch romcoms.” I looked over at him.

“It’s a price I’ll pay to cuddle you.” He got up and put his arms out to me to pull me off the couch. He laid down first, kind of on his side and laid his left arm out so that I could lay next to him. After grabbing a cookie off the plate and taking a bite from it, I pressed most of my weight against him and put the heating pad back in his original place. He wrapped his left arm around my shoulders and we snuggled close. 

It was a little weird at first but the couch was big enough to hold both of us and we settled in easily. I picked up the remote and landed on the movie that I had been dying to watch. _To All The Boys I Loved Before: PS. I Still Love You._ “Judge me now because I’ll probably ugly cry over the movie.”

Chris moved me closer to him to kiss the top of my head. “Never.” I pressed play and snuggled in closer to him.

As soon as Peter Kavinsky dropped Lara Jean back off at her house after their first date, Chris said in my ear, “Oh, this is going to be the _cheesiest_ movie, isn’t it?”

I laughed. “Hey! Don’t judge! I read the books and they’re incredible.”

“What was your first date like?” 

I scoffed, remembering it. “Oh my gosh, it was the worst! I think I was like sixteen, seventeen, maybe. And this guy that I had been friends with for a while asked me to dinner and a movie. Which is like, typical for high school dates. So we go to this awful, disgusting, pizza place and he orders for me. And he got _olives_ on my pizza. And at that time I wanted boys to like me so I ate them and never told him.” I could feel Chris’s entire body shaking with laughter.

“No! Remember what you said about starting relationships on a lie!”

I laughed too. “It was a little white lie! It’s fine!” I paused a moment, remembering where I was in the story. “Anyway, so we finish dinner and go to the movies. And I was asking him what movie he wanted to see and he kept saying he didn’t care and I should pick. I _thought_ he was being nice and letting me pick. But he didn’t care because he just wanted to feel me up during the movie.”

“Oh no!” Chris shook his head. “Typical asshole!”

“Yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “I left the movie and had to have Mike pick me up.”

“Ooh, yeah that’s not good.” We were laughing together now and I turned around so that I could see him better.

“What about your first date? Hopefully better than that.” He wrapped a finger around a stray piece of hair that fell from my bun and let out a laugh that was more like a puff of air.

“I don’t even know my real first date.” He paused to think about it. “I totally had the terrible middle school relationships where everyone dated everyone and you barely even held hands.” I laughed at that. I didn’t have any of those, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. “Ah, I think it was probably prom. We went out to dinner beforehand and then showed up to the dance. We danced, kissed and then she dumped me.”

“Aw! Poor you. But good for me.” I winked at him which made us both laugh. I turned back to the movie and smiled as Lara Jean and Peter were at the carnival. “They’re so cute! My brother said to fall in love with your best friend and they’re total best friends.” Chris snuggled me closer and pressed another kiss to the side of my head.

When we finished the movie, the tears were rushing down my face. I am such a hopeless romantic and love when true love finds each other in the end. I sat up and my stomach growled making Chris and I laugh. He looked over to me and saw me crying and laughed harder.

“Hey! Don’t laugh! I said I would cry!” I stuck out my bottom lip and he leaned over, catching my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling on it. He then captured my mouth again in more kisses. He brought his hands up to hold my head and used his thumbs to wipe the tears away all while kissing me.

My stomach growled again which pulled us apart, making us laugh again. “We gotta get you some food.” Chris stood up and held out a hand which I took and he pulled me up off the couch. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Hm,” I thought, making my way over to the fridge. I opened the fridge and the freezer to see what I had inside. Whenever I had period cramps, I always wanted any type of comfort food. It may have not been nutritional but it made me feel good. “How about some mac and cheese?” I pulled out a box of frozen macaroni and cheese from the freezer.

“Sounds good to me,” Chris took the box from my hands and made his way over to the oven. “You go lay down. I’ll make this.”

I went back over to the couch and grabbed my heating pad, making my way back to the kitchen to reheat it in the microwave. I put it in the microwave and set the timer for sixty seconds. I walked over to Chris and wrapped my hands around him from behind. I stood on my tippy toes and kissed his neck. “Thank you.”

He turned around in my arms and wrapped his around my waist. As he kissed me, his hands fell down to my ass. As he grabbed it, he pulled me closer to him, deepening our kiss. The microwave beeped, breaking us apart. I opened the microwave and made my way back to the couch, laying down again. Dodger and Max jumped up on the couch and laid down at my feet, next to each other. They were the cutest of friends.

After eating our lunch, Chris and I spent the rest of the afternoon cuddled on the couch, snacking on chocolate chip cookies and watching _Nailed It!_ on Netflix. We were laughing so hard at the failures that the contestants made.

I was absentmindedly scrolling through my phone when I saw an Instagram post that one of my friends made. She was wearing a floor length red gown and her boyfriend was in a tux. Next to them was a candlelit table, and it was captioned, _Even in quarantine we make date night happen._ “This is so cute!” I exclaimed, liking the post and showing Chris. “Can we do this?” My eyes widened and I sat up a bit straighter.

“What is it?” He squinted his eyes to look at the post. “Go on a date?” He looked at me, confused. “Of course.”

“No, they got all dressed up to go on a date. I wanna get dressed up like this.” I looked up at him with sad eyes, hoping that it would get him to say yes.

He just chuckled, mostly to himself. “How about tomorrow night?”

“Sounds like a plan.” I kissed him and took a look at the time. “I’ve gotta send the Zoom link to my mom and brother.” I got up to get my computer and brought it over to my lap. Chris and I sat next to each other on the couch. His feet were propped up on the coffee table, crossed at the ankle and mine were criss-crossed underneath me with my laptop in my lap. Dodger and Max were still next to each other at the end of the couch.

I pulled up Zoom and created a call, due to start in the next ten minutes and sent the link to my mom and brother. My nerves started to pick up again, and I began bouncing my knee. Chris put his hand on it to stop me and I looked up at him. “So I’m a little nervous. I don’t think you could tell,” I said sarcastically.

“Em,” he said seriously. “It’s gonna be fine. If your family is anything like you, I know we’ll get along great.”

I took a deep breath through my nose. “Okay, but just so you know my brother is a big Marvel fan and he already knows who you are.”

“Okay,” he said as if it was nothing, because it probably was nothing. “You knew who I was.”

“Well, kinda.” I looked over to him and smiled. “I didn’t know you were America’s ass.”

“Baby, this is your ass.” He wiggled his eyebrows and winked at me.

I blushed profusely at his words. “Oh my god, please get that out now because my entire family will kill you if they hear that.” He laughed and placed a quick kiss on my cheek as I situated the camera between us. I kept pulling the screen back and forth, trying to get the both of us at a good angle.

“Alright, so my mom is Patricia and my dad is Carl. They’ve been together for literally ever. You already know my dad’s in a wheelchair, not that you’ll probably be able to tell. And then my brother is obviously Mike and his wife is Olivia.”

“Okay,” he nodded, taking all the names in.

“And my dad’s really protective, so no promises that he’s immediately going to love you.” I looked over to him trying to gage his reaction. “Although deep down he has the biggest heart and I’m sure you guys are going to get along really well. Before he was in the wheelchair, he loved hiking. He still loves being outdoors, it’s just harder for him to do.”

“Alright. Patricia, Carl. Mark, Oliva. I think I’ve got it.”

I squeezed Chris’s knee as my phone chimed with a text from my mom. _We’re just about to get on!_ I showed him the message and sent him a smile that I’m sure looked absolutely crazy.

Another minute went by and then there was a noise that indicated a person was joining the Zoom call. My mom and dad showed up on the screen and I smiled. “Hi mom! Hi dad!” They were seated at their dining room table with their large grandfather clock set behind them. My mom was wearing a light purple shirt that made her grey hair pop, and my dad was wearing a green collared shirt. He was balding and didn’t like it much so he had a baseball cap on his head.

“Hi sweetheart!” My mom waved with both hands, making me smile.

“Hi Em!” My dad said and gave a small wave.

“Mom, dad, this is my boyfriend Chris.” I motioned over to him and bit my lip as he waved back at them.

“I’ve heard so many great things about you from Emily!” He leaned into the camera a bit to speak.

“Well I can say the same,” my mom said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes because Chris definitely saw that and she was trying to be discreet. She was a technical guru but I guess she hadn’t quite wrapped her head around video chat yet. “I’m mom, Patricia, you can call me Patty. And this is Emily’s dad, Carl.” My dad just gave a wave, trying to keep the macho man look on his face which made me roll my eyes too. My goodness, my parents.

“It’s great to meet you Patty and Carl.”

The sound of someone else joining was heard as Mike and Olivia joined our chat and greetings were made again. “Mike! Olivia! Hi!” I said into the camera, waving at them.

“Hi Em!” They both said at the same time with waves as well. They were also sitting at their dining room table and I could see the sun coming in through their windows. I always forgot that they were three hours behind us until I was reminded in times like this. I looked at the clock noting that it was probably about 4:00 their time.

“Mike, Olivia, this is my boyfriend, Chris.” Chris waved at them. “Chris, that's my brother, Mike, and his wife, Olivia.”

“Hey! I’ve just gotta say I’m so excited to meet you guys. Sorry it couldn’t be in person, but one day soon it definitely will be,” Chris said.

“Oh yes! Very soon,” my mom nodded. I knew that she was going to drive most of the conversation and I was thankful for that. Even though I really wanted to know what was running through my dad’s head. My mom was my absolute best friend but I was also a daddy’s girl and craved his approval.

“Dude, I’ve just gotta say. You are like the best actor ever. _Captain America_ is one of my favorite movies ever,” Mike blurted, making me and Chris laugh.

“Thanks man, that means a lot.”

“Captain America?” my dad said. Okay, here we go.

“Daddy, Chris is an actor and he plays Captain America. You know the Marvel comic books?” He nodded. “Well he’s in the movie version.” I pressed my lips together, waiting for his response.

“In movies?” My dad asked. He was a movie buff, but mostly liked to watch the same movies and they were all movies that he watched when he was younger. “And they’re popular?”

Mike scoffed, “Dad, are you kidding me! It’s like the most popular movie franchise in the world.”

Chris laughed awkwardly, “Thanks. Although, I don’t know if I’d say that. I think Star Wars has that covered.”

“Have you only done this, _Captain America_?” my mom asked.

“No, I’ve been in a few others. I’ve even directed and produced a couple of movies. A television show here and there.”

“Oh, so you’ve done quite a bit,” my mom said, seemingly shocked. I smiled at her. She really had no idea how much Chris has actually worked on, and it was a lot.

“I guess you could say that.”

Mike interrupted. “Mom, you’ve gotta watch some of his stuff, he’s so good.”

“Um, I’ll send you a list of what to watch.” I definitely wasn’t about to let her watch _What’s Your Number?_ Or any of Chris’s naked movies. That would be a disaster and she’d probably be scarred for life. I know I certainly would be.

“So Emily says you were in California before the quarantine, is that where you live?” My mom asked politely.

“Yeah,” Chris nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “I live there most of the time, but I’ve had a lot of off time lately since my Marvel contract was up so I’ve been spending a lot of time out here. I was born in Sudbury and my mom is Emily’s next door neighbor.”

“Emily did mention that,” my mom said. “And that’s how you guys met?”

“Yup,” Chris continued, smiling at me. “I usually stay at my house in Lincoln, but I’m selling it right now and I didn’t want to spend the time alone so I’m staying at my mom’s. And then here comes Emily walking her dog and waltzing right into my life.” I looked away from him and blushed, harder than normal because my family was sitting right in front of us.

I heard Olivia softly say, “Aw!” which made me blush even harder.

“Oh Dad, he’s even creating a political website!” My dad was super invested in politics. As he always says, he wants to make sure he leaves the world a better place than when it was given to him. This piqued my dad’s curiosity and he raised his eyebrow and tilted his head. I wasn’t sure if I overstepped by telling them about it, seeing as Chris had _just_ told me about it, but I knew that it would give him some points with my dad.

“Is that right?” My dad said slowly, and my mom smiled at me. She knew what I was doing and it was working.

“Yes sir.” Chris nodded. “It’s been in the works for a while now and it’s due to come out this summer.”

“Well, I’ll have to look out for it.” I could have screamed. That was enough for me and I could tell that him and Chris were going to get along great.

The six of us chatted for another hour. Mike tried to embarrass me _several_ times and told Chris stories about when we were younger. He told Chris about the scar I have on my elbow from when I thought I was a professional horseback rider and rode the rocking chair in my living room, flipping over the back of it. I retaliated with a story about how Mike got stitches in his lip because he was jumping off his bed, pretending to be Superman and he hit his windowsill.

Chris fit in really well with my family, adding in stories of his own. He told us about the time that he was younger and played dress up with his sisters, and he tripped over a dress he was wearing, sending his bottom teeth through his lip.

“We should probably get going,” my mom said after our laughter died down for a bit. “You know us, early to bed, early to rise.” I smiled at the phrase my mom had been saying for a long time. There were nights when we would stay up talking or watching tv, but she mostly liked to be in bed before 8:30 because she could read and wind down with my dad.

“Yeah, us too. We’ve gotta get some dinner for this baby,” Olivia said and pointed down to her stomach.

“Well, let me say, Patty, Carl, it was so great to meet you. Your daughter is absolutely incredible and I’m the luckiest man alive that she let me into her life,” Chris said to my parents.

“Chris, it was a pleasure as well. I can’t wait until we can actually meet in person. In the meantime, take care of my lovebug,” my mom said with a smile and Chris nodded.

“Yeah man! It was great to meet you. I’d totally shake your hand if I could. Can’t wait to meet you in person dude,” Mike said after Olivia said her goodbyes and stepped off screen, probably moving to get dinner ready.

“Same here, Mike!”

“Chris, great to meet you,” my dad nodded towards Chris in the camera and then turned slightly towards me with a smile. “Love you sweetie, talk to you soon.”

“Alright, love you guys! Bye!” We all waved at our cameras as each of us signed out of the Zoom call. I looked over to Chris and smiled, closing my laptop.

“Your family is great. Your mom seems like the sweetest woman ever. Maybe even sweeter than my mom.”

“Wouldn’t they be like, the best of friends!” I said excitedly, looking up at him.

“I think they would be,” he laughed.

“And I’m pretty sure my dad loved you. You could totally tell he was trying to be skeptical but he said it was great to meet you and he doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean.”

“He seems like a great man. Your brother too. I can’t wait to get to know them better.” He leaned over and kissed me. He tried to pull me on top of him but my heating pad fell onto his lap. It wasn’t hot anymore so he just looked down at it. “How’s your cramps?”

“They’re alright,” I shrugged. The call with my family had taken my mind off them, but of course since I started thinking about them, they were coming back. “The call took my mind off them but I’m sure they’re going to come back with a vengeance any minute now.”

“You know what I read is really good for period cramps?” He looked up at me through his beautiful eyelashes and raised his eyebrows up and down. I looked up at him with a questioning look on my face. “An orgasm.”

I threw my head back and laughed, climbing on his lap to straddle him. “Slow your roll, Cap. You are not getting anywhere near that right now. But I’m not opposed to some making out.” I winked at him and eagerly closed the gap between our lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long time coming, but I made up for it with a longer chapter. Guys, you have no idea how much all your comments, kudos, and bookmarks mean to me. With this being my first story, I'm always so nervous to write it and post it but you guys always make me feel so good and supported. I love you!


	12. Chapter 12

I moved my hands up to the fabric on my face to reposition it. I hadn’t gotten used to wearing a mask in public yet. I tried to avoid going out as much as possible but I was going crazy doing the same thing every day and decided that I wanted to plant some flowers in my front yard.

My eyes raked over all the beautifully colored flowers when I stepped into the garden area at Lowe’s. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Chris doing the same in the row next to me. I texted him this morning to see if he wanted to come with me and he was at my house within thirty seconds.

“What about these?” I looked over at him and he was holding a pot of red geraniums. I smiled because my grandmother always had geraniums at her house, but I wasn’t really fond of the red color. It was a dark red and I was looking for something a little lighter.

“Mmm, no. I want something a little lighter in color,” I said, shaking my head. He put the pot back down on the floor and continued looking down the aisle.

I came upon a pot of beautiful light pink impatiens. There were so many of them in the planter and they would look perfect in front of my house. I grabbed the three planters that were left and placed them in my cart. I was really looking for four, but I think I could make due with what I had.

“Oh, those are nice,” Chris said as he walked towards me. He was wearing a Patriots bandana on his face with his sunglasses and a NASA hat on. I was a little nervous he would be recognized but he said that if anyone did see him, there was usually an unspoken rule not to bother him when he was out and about in his hometown.

“Yeah, I really like these! I wish there were four but that’s okay.” I turned the cart around and headed towards the outdoor section so that I could look at the tomato plants. I was thinking about starting a garden but I never had one before so I wanted to start slow. 

I turned and detoured down an aisle of flower pots. With Chris following behind me, he took advantage of the opportunity of us being in the secluded aisle, away from other people, to stand behind me, put both of his hands in my back pockets and grab my ass.

“Excuse me, 911, someone is not social distancing here. Help,” I joked, trying to pull away from him.

“You didn’t mind not social distancing last night,” Chris whispered into my ear and laughed as he removed his hands from my pocket.

“I beg your pardon sir, I am a lady!” I feigned shock. Although I couldn’t see Chris’s eyes behind his sunglasses, he made a noise that told me he was rolling his eyes at me.

I spotted a beautiful navy blue planter with a diamond pattern on the top shelf that I thought would look great on my back porch. I reached my arms up but I couldn’t reach it, even stretching out my arms as far as they could go. Chris came up behind me, pressing his full body against me and stretched up his arms to grab the planter off the top shelf. “Let me get that for you,” he whispered in my ear causing a shiver to run down my entire body. 

I closed my eyes and could feel his weight shift away from me when he got the planter in his hands and then he moved away from me to place it in the shopping cart. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times and heard him calling my name. “Uh, yeah?” I said, still in somewhat of a daze. 

“Everything okay?” he said with a smirk on his face and turned around, pushing the cart away from me. I rolled my eyes and followed behind him to the cash register to cash out, get back to my house and start planting.

Once I had paid for my purchases and we made our way back to my car, I hit Chris on the arm. “You can’t just do all that in public, are you crazy!?” I pushed the button on my keys to open the trunk as he laughed. “It’s not funny,” I whined.

“Baby, no one saw anything.” He started unloading the cart into the back of my car. He picked up the planter and I put my hands on top of it to stop him. He smiled. “Sorry,” he said and I let go so that he could put the pot in the trunk. “Sorry I can’t keep my hands off of you.” He raised his eyebrows and pushed the cart away from me to put it away.

I quickly got into the driver seat, still feeling all flustered. Mostly over the fact that someone so attractive could be as equally attracted to me as I was to him. I took a deep breath, slipped my mask off and started the car as Chris opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.

“You okay?” I heard the concerned tone of his voice. He placed his hand on my leg as I put the car into reverse and pulled out of the spot.

I started our journey back to my house when I nodded and smiled at him. “Yeah, just,” I paused a bit as I pulled up to a stop sign. “Yeah.”

We were silent for a minute and I bit my lip, trying to keep my focus on driving. I wanted to know what was going through Chris’s head but I couldn’t exactly look over at him and I didn’t feel like saying anything else because I was feeling very insecure and didn’t want to voice it.

“So,” Chris started. “I’ve, uh, got something to tell you.”

“Oh?” I took a split second to look over at him and he smiled at me which made me breathe easier because it couldn’t be bad news if he was smiling at me.

“I’ve got a few people interested in my house in Lincoln.” My eyes lit up when he said this because I knew that selling his house was causing him some stress. “And while I love living with my ma, it’s getting kind of cramped there. And who knows how long this quarantine thing will last. So, I’ve reached out to a realtor and I’ve got a few houses lined up to look at.”

“Wow, really?!” I smiled at him. “That’s awesome! Where are you looking?”

“Around here. Concord, Lincoln. Trying to stay close,” he shrugged.

“I’m so excited for you.” I took a left turn onto my street. “Even if that does mean it’s going to take me longer to get to your house now. Are you doing a virtual tour? How are you going to see the house?”

The two of us waved at Lisa when we passed by her house and saw her outside grabbing the mail. She waved back, and I pulled into my driveway. “Yeah, it’s a virtual tour. They set up a meeting over Zoom and show me the space. It’s tomorrow at four if you wanted to come.” He said the last part softly and smiled when he looked at me.

“I’d love to,” I smiled back and leaned over to kiss him. He met me in the middle over the center console and I could feel him smile as our lips met.

I turned the car off and saw Lisa walking over to us as we both got out of the car. I went around to the back and pressed the button to open the trunk. “Oh Emily, those will look so good in the front yard!” Lisa said when she saw the flowers in my trunk.

“Thanks Lisa.” I smiled and started to unload the flowers. Chris and I each grabbed a pot of flowers and brought them up to my porch. “I’m just glad to have something to do instead of watch tv or be on the computer creating lessons.”

“And good thing you have a helper with you. Make sure to put this guy to work.” Lisa pointed to Chris which made me laugh.

“Oh, you better believe it.”

Chris and I spent the next hour planting the flowers in my front yard. There was a flower bed in front of my house that had just been a pile of dirt for the last six months. I had kept telling myself that I was going to put some flowers in there and I just never got around to it. I was glad I finally decided to do something about it and it was really fun with Chris around.

He dug the holes and pulled up the weeds for me and I took the flowers out of the pot and planted them. I only had a few pairs of gloves but they were women’s gloves and I kept laughing because they didn’t fit Chris’s hands. He eventually took them off and threw them at me to which I just laughed again.

After planting the flowers, I made us sandwiches for lunch and we sat at my island eating them.

“Are you excited for Friday!?” Friday was the release of _Defending Jacob_ on Apple TV. I had put the event in the calendar on my phone and was planning a watch party, even if that watch party consisted of just me.

“I am actually,” Chris said and took another bite of his sandwich. “I’ve got a lot of interviews this week though which is a little overwhelming. And now with selling the house and looking at new ones…” He trailed off and shook his head.

“Hey, just take things one at a time.” I rubbed his shoulder and smiled at him. “And let me know what I can do.” I finished my sandwich and twisted myself so that I was facing him. “But I have planned a watch party for Friday if you want to come. I’d hate to have to watch by myself.” I smiled as I batted my eyelashes at him.

He laughed back at me but agreed that he would be there. “But only if you agree to a date with me tonight.” He leaned forward and captured my lips in a kiss. “I think you said something about dressing up?” He gave me another kiss. “What do you say?”

“Hm, I’ll have to think about it,” I teased. I moved towards him to give him another kiss but he leaned away. “I’m just kidding.” He smirked and kissed me back, filling my stomach with butterflies. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

We pressed our lips together again. I stood up, between his legs and he grabbed me by the waist. I bit his lip and tugged on it just a little and heard a soft moan escape from his lips. I did it again so that I could hear that delicious sound. I sucked in a breath when his tongue slid into my mouth and grabbed onto either side of his head.

At this point, his hands had grabbed me tighter and pulled me closer to him. I pulled away from him for a minute to look at him and could see the lust in his eyes. I felt myself growing wetter by the second, the butterflies and pressure filling within me.

Our kissing became faster as our tongues battled each other. He was a perfect combination of sweet and sultry, and damn did he how to kiss. He leaned back away from me and grabbed me by my chin. His eyes spoke volumes although I couldn’t quite tell exactly what they were saying. “I’d love to continue this,” he finally spoke. “But I’ve got a date to get ready for.”

He placed another kiss on my lips and I could feel him smile into it which made me smile as well. He got up off the stool and placed his hands around my waist again. He leaned down to kiss me one more time and I asked him what time I should be ready tonight.

“I’ll pick you up at 6,” he said with a smile and slipped out the door. I looked at the clock on my stove and it read 2:32. I looked over to Max who was sitting by the door staring at it.

I looked over at him and bit my lip, smiling. “Maxy, my goodness.” I let out a breath and shook my head, looking at the ground. “I’m gonna… take a shower.”

After giving Max a treat and watching him jump up on the couch to chow down on it, I made my way into the bathroom. I discarded my clothes, throwing them on the ground underneath the sink. I opened the closet door and grabbed a towel, placing it on top of the toilet seat and started the water to heat up before stepping in.

As I stood under the water, I thought about my date with Chris tonight. There were so many thoughts running through my head. I wasn’t sure if it stemmed from the make-out session we had before he left or from the simple fact that I felt completely safe and secure with him at every moment. He was slowly becoming my best friend and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. That part scared me, but excited me as well.

I picked up my shaving cream, lathering my legs and making sure to reach all the spots. When I grabbed my razor, I felt myself smiling. Which to most people probably seemed pretty creepy but I had come to a realization. I was ready. Chris said we would take things at my pace and I was ready to give myself to him. I was so ready to have sex with him.

I finished my shower, feeling almost giddy. I was extremely nervous and my heart was beating so fast and loud that I could feel it in my ears. But I knew that Chris would take it as fast or as slow as I wanted and he would keep me safe no matter what.

I wrapped the towel around me and made my way into my bedroom. I was so excited that Chris wanted to dress up for our date like I had suggested because I had the perfect dress. I had worn it as a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding a few years ago and had been waiting for another time to wear it because it looked amazing on me.

I pulled the dress out of my closet and laid it out on my bed. It was a beautiful light blue color with a high neckline in the front and a low, lace v-neck in the back. It had an a-line skirt with a slit that went up about mid-thigh. I sat down at my desk and smiled at myself in the mirror, plugging in my curling iron.

Max made his way into my room and I smiled down at him. “Hi Maxy boy,” I pet him as he came up to me. He looked up at me and then went over and hopped up on my bed, being careful not to step on my dress. I smiled at him for that. He was such a good dog.

While my curling iron heated up, I brushed my hair and started sectioning it. I found my phone and put my music on shuffle so I could sing along while I got ready.

It took me a little while, about forty five minutes to finish my hair. I almost stopped curling it halfway through because it wasn’t coming out how I wanted it. But, I stuck with it and it ended up looking fairly good. I had to re-curl the top a few times because the curls fell when I went to pull back a few strands. When I was said and done, I was pleased with my look and began to dig through my eyeshadow palettes to decide my look for tonight.

Since my dress was light blue, I went for a darker look with my makeup. I started brushing some products over my lids, trying to perfect a smokey eye. I wasn’t a professional by any means, but I could make do with the skills that I had. When I had finished with that, I opened my drawer for my lipsticks and pulled out a light pink gloss.

As I was doing my hair and makeup, I was really excited, but just got nervous again when I stood in front of my drawer to pull out some underwear to put on. The back of the dress was open and I had one of those sticky bras that just covers the front. I rummaged through my collection and found a matching nude pair. I smiled as I pulled it on and looked at myself in the mirror. I did little dance to the music in my mirror. Max looked over to me and then laid his head back down and sighed.

“Wow, thanks Maxy,” I laughed. I sat down next to him and started to rub his back. He moved to his side so that I had more access to his tummy. “Maxy, I think I’m ready and I’m so nervous.” I started rubbing his belly. “You like Chris, right?” I waited for a response from him but didn’t get one. “Well, I really like him.” I stopped petting him for a minute and he looked over to me. “Like, really, _really_ , like him.” I started petting him again and sighed. “Alright. Time to get dressed,” I said excitedly and stood up.

I picked up the dress of my bed and held it to me, looking at myself in the mirror again. I might have squealed in delight in that moment but wouldn’t reveal that to anyone. I turned the dress around and zipped the back of the dress down before stepping into it. I pulled it up on my body and slipped my arms through the holes. It felt a little snug but I tugged on it a bit trying to get it in place.

I furrowed my brows as I tried to pull the back of the dress together to be able to zip it. I hadn’t worn the dress in a few years but I didn’t really think my body changed that much in that amount of time. The dress was tight on my front so there wasn’t much more pulling I could do to push the sides together and zip the back up.

After trying a few more times, I was starting to get discouraged. I could feel tears burning behind my eyes and I bit my lip. I threw the dress off and sat on my bed in a huff and felt a few tears fall. It wasn’t really that I had gained weight because that is normal, although if I’m honest with myself that was a part of it. I had been feeling so good about tonight and it was almost as if the universe was saying I wasn’t ready because this stopped me in my tracks.

Not only this but everything that was going on in the world was getting to me too. I hadn’t been to my job in a month. I’d been teaching online from a computer. I hadn’t seen any family or friends in the same amount of time. I know that I had it so much better than some people but I couldn’t help how I was feeling. And so, I just let myself cry.

I changed out of my underwear and into a t-shirt and sweatpants. I grabbed a hair tie off my desk and pulled my hair up and I went into the bathroom to wipe the make-up from my face. I’d just tell Chris that I wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t up for a date tonight, I’m sure he’d understand.

I grabbed my phone off my desk and sent Chris a text. _Hey, sorry. Not feeling really well, might have to cancel tonight._ As I pressed send, another tear fell and then I started laughing because I felt really stupid. Did I really let a dress not fitting get to me?

My phone chimed and I opened the message from Chris. _What? Are you okay?_ I started typing a message back to him when my doorbell rang and I erased the message because the only person it could have been was him.

I sighed and walked over to the door. At this point I couldn’t control my emotions and let the tears escape. Fuck it. I opened the door to Chris standing there with a concerned look on his face. “Hey, what’s up? What happened?” He walked in my house and wrapped me in a hug. The concerned sound of his voice seemed to make me more emotional as I cried into his chest. “Let’s go sit.” He shut my front door and led me over to the couch. We sat down and held my hand, rubbing the back of it with my thumb.

“This is stupid,” I smiled and looked up at the ceiling, trying to will myself to stop crying.

“How you feel is not stupid.” He scooted closer to me on the couch. “I just, I’m a bit confused. Do you want to talk about it?” He lifted his hand up to my face and used his thumb to wipe a few tears away.

I closed my eyes and breathed in. “It’s so stupid. I got all ready and then my dress wouldn’t fit and then I just, this year is just really hard and I’m starting to feel suffocated and it’s stupid but I miss work and I miss my friends.” I spoke so fast and through heavy breathing that I’m not even sure Chris understood all I was saying. “I’m sorry. You can go. You probably don’t want to see me like this. It’s my stupid period hormones.”

“Woah, wait a minute.” He grabbed my face and pulled it to look up at him. “First of all, you feel this way for a reason. Don’t blame it on anything else. Secondly, I don’t want to go anywhere when you’re feeling like this. Baby, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I hadn’t felt like this until I tried to put that stupid dress on and it didn’t fit. And then everything just came out at once.” I wiped a few tears from my eyes even though they kept falling. “To think that stupid dress ruined the whole night.”

“The clothes were just a formality, I’ll take a date with you any way I can get it.” He winked at me which caused a small laugh to sneak out.

“You can’t be serious. Where do you get all these lines?” I hadn’t meant to say that out loud but the saboteur living inside of me made itself known when I slipped into this emotional state.

“Lines? What do you mean, lines?” I knew at that moment I made a slight mistake because he pulled his hands away from me.

“I just… You can’t seriously want to spend time with me looking like this?”

He looked down and grabbed my hands then looked back up at me, directly in my eyes. We stared at each other for a few moments until he started smiling which made me smile back at him. “Emily.” He stopped for a moment. “I always want to spend time with you. Not only do I like you, I like who I am when I’m with you. You’re incredibly smart, hilarious, caring, and absolutely beautiful. I haven’t met someone like you in a long time.” More tears started to fall. This time, happy tears because of his words. He paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about what he was going to say next. “You know I was actually afraid to tell you that I was looking at houses?”

I pulled away from him. “What? Why?”

He sighed. “My last girlfriend was controlling and there’s still a part of me that is scarred from that. I was spending less time with my family and I didn’t even realize it. I thought I was in love with her. She was using me for my money. She’s the one who made me buy the house in Lincoln for her and it’s been a nightmare now trying to sell it.”

“Oh.” I looked down and pulled my hands away from him.

“I was looking at houses and she was furious I hadn’t asked for her input. She accused me of not loving her because I hadn’t included her, when it felt like all I did was try to keep her. I didn’t even like the Lincoln house but she did so I bought it.”

“What made the relationship end?” I finally looked up at him and I wasn’t crying anymore.

A sour smile covered his face. “My panic attacks started getting worse when I was with her so my doctor had me go back to therapy. She accused me of having an affair with my therapist and told me that I couldn’t go anymore, she wouldn’t let me. That, and I missed Scott’s birthday. I had forgotten it was even a thing. That was a really low point.”

I scooted closer to him. “I think I would be even worse off in quarantine if I hadn’t met you.”

Chris looked up at me and with emotion thick in the air, he pulled me onto his lap and crashed his lips against mine. My hands immediately wrapped around his shoulders as I straddled his waist. I pushed myself against him and sat down on his lap as his hands slid up the back of my shirt.

Our mouths continued to move against each other and he pulled my shirt up over my head. We stopped kissing for a moment so that he could remove it and grabbed my waist. Everywhere his hands went, my skin was on fire. I moved my hands to his waist and began to pull his shirt off as well.

When we separated to remove his shirt, we looked at each other. I could see the questioning in his eyes and I knew that I was even more ready than before. I nodded, “I’m ready Chris.”

“Are you sure?” I nodded and smiled at him, and felt a buzz run through my body. I grabbed his face and kissed him again. He pulled me closer to him by grabbing my ass. I ran my hands up and down his chest, letting my finger linger on each of his muscles trying to remind myself that he was real.

He picked me up in one swift movement and I hooked my ankles together around his back. Our lips stayed attached to each other as he walked us back towards my room. Our mouths battled each other, juxtaposed to how gently he laid me down on the bed and walked back to the door, shutting it. He then returned to me and crawled up my body to capture my lips again.

His lips moved to my neck, licking and sucking their way down to my navel. He dipped his tongue there and then blew on it, which made me draw in a breath. He looked up at me with a smirk which caused me to grow even wetter than I already was.

Chris moved his hands to my waistband and started to pull at my sweatpants. When he hesitated, he looked up at me and I put my hands on top of his, helping him to pull my pants down. He gently rubbed his fingers over my underwear-clad mound causing me to buck my hips. His lips found their way back to mine as he laid his body on top of mine.

“Chris,” I moaned. I could feel his erection growing beneath me and the anticipation was killing me. “I want you so bad.” At these words, he lifted his hips up and started to pull his pants down. My hands connected to each new piece of skin that he revealed. He pulled his underwear down and released his hard cock, standing at attention only for me. I looked at it and absentmindedly licked my lips.

His lips found mine again as his hands moved to my breasts. He unhooked my bra and pulled it off my body, replacing it with his hands. Using his thumb and forefinger he rolled one of my nipples between his fingers causing me to moan and buck my hips towards his again. “Chris.” At this, his mouth found its way to my other breast and I cried out when his teeth pulled on my nipple.

I grabbed his face and pulled his mouth back towards mine. After a few seconds there, he trailed kisses down my chest, giving one kiss to each breast, one on my belly, and then began his descent lower. He placed a kiss just above my underwear before pulling it off. When he removed it, he placed a kiss on my folds and dragged his finger along my clit. “Soaking wet for me baby,” Chris murmured against me between my legs.

He looked up at me again, and without him even saying anything I could tell he was looking to make sure that I was sure. “Chris, I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

I gasped as he threw my legs apart and settled himself between my legs. He flicked my clit with his thumb and then pushed into me with one of his fingers. As he slid into me I moaned causing him to do so as well. He began pumping his finger in and out of me in a slow, antagonizing pace. When he pushed his finger all the way in, he began hooking it up at the top creating a sensation that I had never felt before.

“Chris, oh my _god_.” He slowly added another finger causing my mouth to fall open and throw my head back in pleasure. “Chris.” My voice was breathy and barely there. I didn’t know where to put my arms that they just kept flailing around. “Chris, I want you. I want to feel you. Please,” I cried.

I felt his fingers slowly pull out and watched him as he sat up on his knees and brought his fingers to his mouth. It was incredibly sexy to watch him lick my juices off his fingers as he stared directly into my eyes. When he finished, he clamored off the bed and over to his jeans where he pulled out his wallet. My eyes furrowed until I saw him pull out a condom.

He came back to sit over me on the bed and he ripped the condom package open. “Can I?” I asked, grabbing the condom from his hands. I slowly rolled the condom down over his hard cock and laid back on the bed. He positioned himself at my entrance and again looked towards me. I loved that he wanted to make sure I was ready and I knew I was.

I nodded and felt him slide inside me. It had been a long time since I had something fill and stretch me so deeply and I gasped at the sensation. “Are you okay?” I heard Chris through the pulsation getting louder in my ears.

“Yes, just… _god_. Move, please.” I felt him slide out of me slightly and move back in, filling me up again. I grabbed onto the comforter underneath me as Chris continued to move in and out. My mouth had dropped open and only gasps of sound were coming out. I felt a warm sensation move through my belly, getting more intense with each thrust. “Chris, _fuck_.”

My eyes had closed and rolled back into my head. I felt Chris’s hand snake up my body and pinch my left nipple, _hard_ , shooting the sensation all the way down my spine. I heard Chris’s grunts and moans become higher and faster, mixing with the beat of him pounding into me. “Emily, I--”

“Chris, I’m going to-- _shit_.” He placed a sloppy kiss on my mouth, just barely missing. My entire body was on fire and vibrating as we came together. Chris pulled all the way out and slammed back into me several times as we rode out our highs together. Tears sprung at the corners of my eyes at the intense pleasure. 

He grew limp and removed himself from me, quickly moving off my bed to remove the condom. I could hear him as he ran to the bathroom, washed his hands and returned to my room. I pulled my comforter down and slid underneath, feeling the silky sheets against my naked form.

When he returned in all his naked glory and closed my bedroom door, desire flooded its way through me. I just had the most incredible sex of my life with maybe the most amazing man I had ever met.

“Baby girl, are you crying?” Chris’s face was riddled with concern as he sat down on the bed next to me and caressed the side of my face.

“Oh,” I said and laughed through a small smile. “Uh. It’s not sad tears, I promise.” He cocked his head to the side and stared at me, not following. I pulled at the top of my covers to shield my face and smiled underneath. “It was so good that I cried,” I said, embarrassed.

I heard Chris’s laughter which caused my own. He pulled at the covers that were covering my face. “So good you cried, huh?” he teased with a smirk on his face. Oh how I wanted to smack that smirk off his face.

Rolling my eyes, I tried to pull the covers back over my face. “Baby girl, we just had the best sex of my life, I am stark naked sitting on your bed and you’re hiding yourself from me.” I bit my lip as he slid down the covers revealing more of me. “And I know you didn’t not like it because you just told me it was so good you _cried_.”

He was milking this the most he could and the smile on his face told everything. I could feel my blush rising and growing deeper on my cheeks. 

He started to pull the covers down, stopping just before revealing my nipples. I could see the desire in his eyes and he leaned down and captured my mouth with an earth-shattering kiss.

Chris laid down next to me, keeping our mouths attached and I felt his hand softly run through my hair. I pulled away from him slightly. “Um, I don’t know that I’m ready to go again.” 

He chuckled quietly and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I didn’t expect you to.” The way he was smiling so sweetly at me made my heart soar to new places. Then, he looked at me almost skeptically. “You don’t regret that, do you?”

I kissed him reassuringly, dipping my tongue delicately into his mouth. “Absolutely not.”

Chris turned me so that his front was pressed to my back and he wrapped an arm around my midsection. “Good,” he said and placed a light kiss on my hair. “Just wait for next time. It’s my personal goal to bring the freak out of you I know is living there.”

We laughed together and I closed my eyes. Feeling so calm and secure in his arms, I knew that I made the right decision. I would never regret this for as long as I lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay SO- don't hate me lol. I know this is so long overdue and if I'm honest I lost all interest in writing for a while. I had an outline for this chapter and one day I just decided to scrap it and write and here's what happened. I had more written but this felt like the ending of this chapter. With that said- I will be updating this within the next week and if you don't see an update by next Monday please start yelling at me in the comments. As always, I hope you like it. I can't thank you guys enough for all your love. ❤️


	13. Chapter 13

Chris and I fell asleep soon after that, cuddled up against each other in my bed. Just before we fell asleep, he opened the door so Max could find his way to his bed because we heard him whining outside the door.

We woke up later that night and as I wiped the sleep from my eyes, my stomach growled. I laughed and rolled over so I could face him. “Hi.” I reached over him to my side table to grab my phone and saw that it was just about ten o’clock.

“Hi,” he said back to me and slipped his hand around my head to pull me in for a kiss. “Hungry?” he smiled as he pulled away.

“Don’t know what gave you that idea,” I joked. “Maybe if someone had taken me on a date like they said they would.” I tried really hard to hide my smile as Chris’s face widened with shock.

“Really?” He closed his mouth and sucked his cheeks in just after he licked his lips. He moved swiftly and wrapped his arms around my middle. He tickled my sides and I attempted to wriggle myself out of his grasp. It didn’t work and just caused the sheets to slide down, revealing my naked chest to him. I was a bit surprised, forgetting this was how we had fallen asleep.

The warmth of the covers was broken and the cool air hit my nipples, causing them to stiffen. Chris looked to me, and then at my chest and looked back at me with a smirk on his face. “Oh it’s cold in here, jackass,” I laughed and swatted at his chest with my hand.

I tried to roll out of his grasp but he held on tighter, placing another kiss to my mouth, letting me feel the smirk on his lips. When I leaned in for more, he threw the covers off us and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He picked up his pants and slipped them on, wiggling his butt at me in the process. He looked over his shoulder and threw me a smile that took up all his face and set the butterflies loose in my stomach.

“There’s some pasta in the cabinet if you want to start some water on the stove,” I said as he walked out of the room. Max heard the door opening and walked out after Chris, leaving me alone in my bed.

Staring at the ceiling, I felt a smile slowly spread on my face. My chest was warm thinking about the events that led me here and I felt as if my heart was going to burst. Chris made me feel beautiful and safe and I now felt connected to him in a way I never had with another human. Yes, I had sex before, but it definitely wasn’t anything even close to what I had just experienced. It scared me that I was feeling this much for him, I didn’t want to become too attached so soon.

After I had my moment, I threw the covers off and grabbed Chris’s shirt off the ground. I slipped it on and breathed in the collar, smelling his scent. Chris and his dorito proportions caused the shirt to be a bit big around the middle but it skated just above my butt crack in length so I pulled some shorts out of my drawer and put those on as well.

“Am I going to have to up my t-shirt collection because you’re going to be stealing them all?” Chris was putting some salt into the pot and opening the box of pasta.

“Payback for keeping me up so late on a school night,” I retorted and took my seat at the island. I smiled when I saw Max sitting at Chris’s feet as he was cooking.

Chris made us some delicious pasta and we ate it sitting next to each other on the couch, laughing together with Max sitting at our feet. I was sad that Dodger wasn’t with us because it definitely felt like a part of our group was missing.

He left a little while after that because he needed to get up fairly early for an interview and I needed some sleep before signing onto school in the morning. I laid back in my bed trying to coax Max to cuddle with me because I was missing the warmth that was previously there. After failing at that, I ended up eventually falling asleep.

Since Chris hadn’t fallen asleep with me the night before, I remembered to set my alarm this time. It chimed at 8 and I woke up, yawning and stretching. Although I had gone to sleep a while after I usually do, I felt more rested than I had in a while.

I got out of bed and heard Max’s collar jingling and I smiled as he stretched. “‘Morning Maxy,” I knelt down and scratched behind his ears. I kissed the top of his head and stood up to make my way out to the kitchen. As I stood, both of my knees cracked. “Maxy, I’m getting old. Did you hear that?”

He ignored me, walking over to his water bowl. I grabbed my smoothie maker and started to prepare my breakfast. I grabbed my frozen fruit from the freezer and the milk from the fridge and got to work. All the while, Max was sitting at my feet in his usual spot.

I was the type of person that lived for a routine, and getting back into it was soothing. Of course, breaking that routine for Chris to make me breakfast was something I could definitely get used to.

After rinsing my smoothie maker off in the sink, I grabbed my metal straw and my laptop and took my place on my couch. I took a sip and opened my laptop, logging in to my google classroom account.

This week’s assignment was going to be about weather and observations. Students would have a smaller assignment each day about weather, but their main goal was to make observations about the weather throughout the day and how it changed.

When I finished answering the two emails I had received from students over the weekend, I made my way to the front door and grabbed Max’s leash to take him on a walk. I put my raincoat on and grabbed my umbrella because it looked a little cloudy out and Max was a determined boy when it came to his walks. He never let rain or snow stop him.

We took our usual route past Lisa’s house and I was thankful no one was outside. Chris once told me that he told his mom when he lost his virginity so who knows what he said to her when he returned home last night. I felt like a fifteen year old suddenly and could feel the heat rise to my cheeks.

Max stopped to sniff the grass at the end of Lisa’s driveway, probably smelling Dodger, but I pulled on his leash to keep going. He finally did and I felt the air fly out of my chest and could see my cold breath. 

I hope it’s true what they say that April showers bring May flowers cause today was looking like a cold and rainy day. At least my plants would get some watering.

We made it back to my house quickly. Max only stopped once more so that he could do his business. After dropping that off in the trash just outside my house, we made our way inside and I took Max’s leash off. Just as I had bent down to take his leash off, he shook his body to get the rain out of his fur. 

“Oh gosh, thanks Max.” I wiped my face to get some of the rain off and laughed at him as he went over to the couch. “Don’t you dare,” I said to him as he sat down as if he was going to jump up to the couch. He turned his head towards me and then walked over to sit underneath the tv. “Good boy.”

I grabbed his food from the cabinet and put it in his food bowl. He didn’t immediately walk over to his bowl which concerned me but after I picked the bowl up and put it down so that he could hear the noise, he came over to eat.

As I sat down on the couch and grabbed my laptop my phone chimed in my pocket. I plucked it out and smiled when Chris’s name with a blue heart displayed across the screen. _House tour’s still at 4, but in person now. Still want to come?_

I bit on my lip in contemplation, weighing my options. Chris and I had been around each other obviously, and the only other person there would be the realtor and we would wear our masks the entire time. And the second I got home I would immediately wash my clothes and take a shower to disinfect myself. _Sounds like a plan! I’ll get to break out my new mask._

 _Ooh, sexy_ , he replied, making me laugh. My fingers danced over the keyboard, trying to think of my reply. What he didn’t know was that in my recent purchase of masks, I bought a dark blue one with a Captain America shield on it. So I guess he was right in assuming it was sexy.

 _Only the SEXIEST_. I replied back. His final response was to go to be at his house at 3:30 and we could make our way over there.

Sighing, I threw my phone next to me on the couch and turned my attention back to my computer. I could see that some students had opened and started their assignment for today which I was glad for. It was hard to measure what students were doing each day because we couldn’t actually see them. I was even pleased to see that one of my students I hadn’t heard from had finally logged on. I emailed the student and they hadn’t gotten a computer yet because the chromebooks the school gave out had been on backorder.

At a time like this, it’s so easy to get frustrated at them because they aren’t logging on and doing their work, but I just kept reminding myself that this is a crisis and we’re all doing the best we can. It was the emails like “Thank you for being my teacher” that I received at about noon time that day that truly made it all worth it.

Today was busier than usual. I felt like my fingers never lifted from the keyboard with the amount of emails that I was answering. And it wasn’t just students that didn’t understand their assignments, it was parents that needed help, and some colleagues trying to set up meeting times.

Finally I looked at the clock and it read 3:23. I usually didn’t stay on the computer this long and was glad that I finally looked up to check because I almost missed the time to meet Chris. I turned my computer off and went over to my side table to plug it in to charge. It was Monday and I had girl’s night after seeing the house Chris was looking at so I wanted to make sure my computer was charged for then.

“C’mon boy. Crate time!” I said to Max as I went to the pantry to get a treat for him. He ran over to his crate and I threw the treat in before closing the door. He chomped on it happily and then looked up at me. “I won’t be too long! Just take a nap and it’s like I’m not even gone!”

I walked to the front door and grabbed my bag, slipped on my crocs and jacket and found my house keys. I quickly looked at the mirror to check my appearance. I threw on a little mascara at lunchtime and it was still mostly there. I ran my fingers through my hair a bit and fluffed it out and then I was on my way out the door.

I locked my front door and bounded my way over to Lisa’s house with a smile on my face. I made my way up the steps to the front door and rang the doorbell. I tapped my foot while waiting for someone to come answer the door. My eyes fixated on a chip in the paint of their front door but they were torn away when the door opened and Chris stood in front of me.

“Hi!” I said happily as soon as I saw him. He greeted me back, leaning in and pressing a kiss to my cheek. He retreated back into the house for a minute to grab his wallet and keys off a table by the door.

“I’ll be back, Ma!” Chris said. On our way out the door I heard Lisa from somewhere in the house, faintly telling him to send her pictures.

Chris unlocked his car and quickly ran to my side. I thought he was going to open the door for me. Instead, he pushed me against the side of the car, placing his hands on the top of the hood on either side of me. He pressed his lips against mine in a wonderful kiss, but it was over as quickly as it started. “I thought you were going to open my door,” I laughed.

Chris smirked and pressed his lips to mine again. While his mouth was attacking mine, he reached behind me to grab the handle. He pulled me away from the car and opened the door along with it. He pulled back from me and walked over to the driver door and got in.

I slid into my seat and looked over at him. “So like, if you only open the door for me like that from now on, that’s okay with me.” I smiled and looked over at him and he threw his head back to laugh.

He turned the car on and put his hand on the back of my seat to reverse the car out of the driveway. “How was work?” I sighed and rolled my eyes which made Chris laugh. “That bad?”

“No,” I said. “It’s just frustrating. Like kids I never had a problem with during the school year are suddenly being the most difficult. One kid emailed me today and asked if she had to do the assignment and when I told her yes, she emailed me back and said that was fine but she really didn’t want to do it. Like, some days I don’t really want to go to work but I still have to,” I ranted with my volume picking up as I got to the end of the story.

“Ooh, yeah. No, you can’t just decide. If I did that, I would have done absolutely no work all throughout school.”

“Exactly! Like, I’m not just posting because I feel like it. As far as I know we’re still going to have to take MCAS so they need to know this stuff. It’s all just so frustrating.” I sighed and looked out the window.

“Well hey,” Chris said looking over at me. “Think about the kids that you’re reaching and helping.” He placed his hand on my thigh in a comforting way and I gave him a small smile.

“I know.” I sighed again. “It’s just the perfectionist in me wants to reach them all and have them all love it and be engaged 100% of the time.”

“Well unfortunately you’ll never get that so perhaps your perfectionist should get a new goal,” he teased and smiled at me when I gave him a dirty look.

“I know. Shut up,” I smiled at him. “How was your interview?”

“Good,” he shrugged. “I post about Dodge so much that I swear that’s all we talk about in interviews. But I can talk about him forever so I guess that’s fine.” A sweet smile painted his face when he mentioned Dodger which made me smile.

“Yeah, we all know you’re in love with your dog.” I playfully pushed his shoulder and rolled my eyes. “Where’s the dirt? Don’t they want to know the dirt?”

“I’m too clean for them. No dirt here.” 

“Oh. Yeah. Sure. Of course.” He looked over to me and opened his mouth in shock while I laughed. He tried to grab me and tickle my middle while keeping his eyes on the road. Since I was squirming away from him in my seat, he couldn’t quite get me. “Chris, you’re driving, stop!”

“Don’t think I won’t get you when we get there.” He put his hand back on the wheel but quickly looked over at me and back to the road.

“Says Mr. Clean,” I said with a laugh. “How much longer? You can’t get this house, you’ll be too far away from me.”

It wasn’t until about 10 minutes later that we were pulling into the driveway of the house Chris was looking at. We pulled onto a dirt road and drove down it about a hundred feet before turning into the driveway and parking in front of the two car garage. The beautiful farm house was the only house on the small road and it had a huge fenced in side yard.

“Oh shit, Chris, this is beautiful.” After getting out of the car, I grabbed my mask from my purse and situated it on my face. “Told you it was sexy,” I said when I looked to Chris which caused him to laugh. He was wearing his typical Patriots mask and grabbed my hand as we walked around the house to the front yard.

It was a two story white house with green shutters and front door, and two chimneys. There was a huge main house in the center with two smaller rooms connecting to the main house by hallways with glass windows. We walked up the two steps and stood in front of the door.

“Alright so tell me before the real estate agent gets here, what are you thinking?” Chris opened the front door and removed his mask because we were the only two in the house. I did the same and looked at the huge staircase with a living room to the left and dining room to the right.

“From what I’ve seen, I really like it,” he said with a small smile. I let go of his hand to walk into the dining room. There was already a huge dining room table in the middle of the room and a soft gray rug on the ground. I’m sure it was staged furniture for people that were viewing the house, but I almost hoped that he could keep it because it was beautiful and suited the space perfectly. “Come here,” I heard him say and followed him past the stairs and into the kitchen and gasped at what I saw.

In the middle of the room was an island with a grey marbled top and two bar stool chairs on one side of it. I turned around to see double ovens and a gas stove top. “My goodness, Chris can’t you just imagine cooking in this kitchen?”

He smiled and grabbed my hand again to pull me into another room. The focus of this room was a black grand piano with bookcases lining the walls. The book cases were empty but there was a chair in the corner of the room with a blanket haphazardly thrown over it.

“This is beautiful,” I said when I went over to the piano. “Do you think it’d be okay if I played it?” I looked over at where he was standing at the door. He shrugged his shoulders and I pressed my fingers against the keys to play _Mary Had a Little Lamb_. When I was finished, Chris clapped for me and I curtsied. “Thank you, thank you.”

I looked out the window and saw the beautiful side yard that was fenced in. “Dodge would have a blast out here,” Chris said as he walked up behind me.

“Seriously! This is like a dog’s dream!” I turned around to smile at him. “I wish I could afford this house because if you don’t get it I surely want to.”

“I guess it’s a good thing it’s mine then,” he said as he smiled at me. 

I shook my head and furrowed my brow, trying to comprehend what he just said. “It’s what?”

He held up the key. “I already had a walkthrough with my realtor and had movers bringing things from the Lincoln house to here today. It’s not all here yet but it’s mostly done.”

“Oh my goodness!” I screamed. “Chris, this house is incredible! I’m so happy for you!” I grabbed him around the shoulders and gave him a huge hug. I pulled away to peck his lips and then returned to my hug. “Does that mean I can come over and play the piano?”

“Baby, whenever you want,” he said as he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and leaned in for a kiss. “You can also come over for other things,” he said when he pulled away from my lips.

“Baking cookies,” I joked, nodding my head and pressed another kiss against his mouth. 

“Say it again,” came from his mouth in a gravely tone.

“I’ll bake you all the cookies you want.” We continued kissing and smiling against each other’s mouths.

“Ooh yeah baby, bake my cookies.”

“I’m all for dirty talk but Chris this ain’t it,” I said to him and we both laughed. I squealed when instead of giving me a response, he picked me up and sat me down on his lap while he sat on the piano seat.

Since there wasn’t a back to the bench, it was hard to stay balanced on his lap. When he got tired of almost falling over, he picked me up again and this time sat me down on top of the piano. My insides tingled in anticipation as I could feel myself growing wetter.

“Chris,” I gasped when his mouth clamped down on my throat. His hand found my breast and kneaded it through my jacket. I helped him to slip my jacket on. “Chris, are we really doing this here?” I said, finally realizing we were on top of the piano in his brand new house.

He smirked and shrugged. “It’s my piano.” He slowly laid me back on the piano and in one swift movement climbed up on top of it himself. My fire hot skin leaning on the stone cold piano made the adrenaline rush through my body and my brain couldn’t comprehend how incredibly hot this situation was.

Chris supported his weight with his arms on either side of my head and pressed our sexes against one another making each of us moan. Yesterday was absolutely wonderful, but I wanted him hot and fast this time. I bucked my hips up towards him and grabbed at his waistband. “Chris, fuck me.” We looked at each other and I saw the lust rush through his eyes which I’m sure was mirrored in mine.

I quickly unbuttoned my pants and rolled them off and he did the same after he grabbed a condom from his wallet. I didn’t care to ask why he brought one, I was just so happy that he did. Without even removing our shirts, Chris slipped on the condom and entered me in one fell swoop.

“Harder,” I whispered as he increased his speed. I could feel my orgasm bubbling in my stomach. I grabbed his ass cheeks and ground myself against him, meeting every thrust. Within minutes we came undone together and I shouted his name, louder than I think I have ever spoken.

Our slow, shallow breathing was the only thing that filled the room as he slipped out of me and climbed off the piano. I laid there for a moment and let my breathing come back to normal. I heard Chris zipping up his pants and then sat up and slid myself off the piano.

I grabbed my pants from Chris as he handed them to me and put them back on. As I was zipping them up, Chris grabbed my chin and pulled my mouth towards him saying, “That’s one piece of furniture down, only all the other ones to go.” He gave me a hot kiss that stole my breath, although I’m not even sure that my breathing was back to normal in the first place. I felt the heat slightly rising up my neck and tried my best to will it back down but I’m sure there was a slight tint to my cheeks.

Chris showed me the upstairs to the house, including the incredible view from the master bedroom porch and we made our way back to the car.

“I’m so happy for you Chris. That house is beautiful. You and Dodger are gonna have so much fun there. Even if it is farther from me now,” I said the last part sourly. I was mostly joking, but was still a little sad he’d be farther than he usually is.

“I can’t wait to be fully moved in. Although this is the worst time ‘cause Scott’s moving apartments in LA and I’m going there the first week of May to help him out.”

“You are?” I said sadly. He had yet to tell me this and that would mean he’d be gone from me for a while.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s only for a week but I promised him that when he finally moved out I’d help him. And with quarantine, he doesn’t really want to hire movers. Which I totally get,” he shrugged. Although, Chris had just hired movers to move his houses so I didn’t know why Scott couldn’t. But I would just sound like a spoiled brat if I said that out loud so I refrained.

“Moving away from me and now going to California? If I didn’t know better I’d think you were trying to get away from me,” I joked looking over at him.

“Baby girl, we’ve got a week and half until I go and I’ll only be gone for a week. We’ll just have to get creative. Phone sex, Facetime sex, I could do something with that.”

“Oh my god, you’re the worst,” I laughed and hid my face away from him. He laughed with me but looked over at me with a sweet smile and then puckered his lips and made kissing noises.

Chris dropped me off at my house and although he wanted to come in, I insisted that it was girl’s night and I needed some time with my friends. So although he protested and pouted, he made his way back to his mom’s house and I walked to mine.

“Maxy!” I shouted when I opened the door and heard him pawing at the door to his crate. “Hi boy!” I went over and unlocked his crate. He bolted out, jumping up on my legs and wiggling his way over to the door. “Alright, alright, we’ll go out.”

I laughed at him as I attached his leash and he pulled me out the door. After doing his business, he quickly made his way back in the house and over to his bowl.

“Somebody’s hungry, huh?” I fed Max and then grabbed a sandwich for myself as I realized the time was getting very close to six and Tina and Ashlee would be logging on soon and I needed to send them an invite to our Zoom call.

“It’s about time we heard from you!” Tina said when she logged on at six. “Bitch doesn’t answer her text messages?” Tina asked me and I was immediately confused.

“What do you mean?” I grabbed my phone from my back pocket and didn’t have any new messages. As I was opening my messages app, the Zoom call chimed and Ashlee’s face appeared on the screen.

“Emily you’re actually alive!” As she said that I opened our group chat and found a conversation they had yesterday, deciding that we would go for a socially distant ice cream this weekend. There were messages yelling at me to respond and it seems that I opened the messages but I never actually read them nor did I respond.

“Sorry guys, I totally don’t remember getting these.” I scrolled back through the messages to try and make sense of their conversation. “But that sounds good, I’m down for ice cream.”

“Oh don’t act all innocent,” Ashlee said and my attention snapped up towards her. I heard a joking tone in her voice but was confused because her face didn’t look like she was joking. “You’re totally gonna be the girl that gets in a relationship and ghosts her friends.”

“No, seriously guys. I would have answered but I don’t even remember opening all these.”

“Bitch we’re joking, but like you were totally preoccupied yesterday weren’t you?” Tina’s voice was laced with a suggestive tone as she smiled at me through the screen.

“Guys, I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to make it up to you. Ice cream on Saturday sounds fun!”

“Stop trying to change the subject,” Ashlee said. I put my phone down beside me and pat the couch to signal it was okay for Max to jump up next to me.

As he situated himself and I began petting him I looked to them and said, “What do you mean?”

“You were hanging out with your boyfriend yesterday, weren’t you?” Tina accused.

I tried to be nonchalant about it but I thought about what I was doing yesterday and even what we did at Chris’s new house not that long ago and the blush rose up my neck and to my cheeks. I tried to rub my nose to get rid of it and hopefully they wouldn’t see.

“She got laid,” Tina said matter of factly.

“What? How did you know?” I looked up to their smiles and knew that I had gone into a trap and only felt my blush deepen.

“I didn’t! But I do now.” Tina smiled smugly and laughed. “Don’t be embarrassed! Who could keep away from that God of a man? Was it good?”

“Oh my god, Tina,” I laughed and my hand flew to my forehead. I hoped that this would block my face as they pried more information out of me.

“How big is his dick?” Ashlee said and I knew by now I was as red as a beefsteak tomato. “I bet it’s really big, a nice vein running through it. Hair or no hair?”

“Ashlee!” I screamed.

“Don’t hold out on us!”

“You guys are the worst friends literally ever.”

“Oh it’s definitely big Ashlee.” Tina nodded and leaned further into the camera, leaning her chin on her hands like she was a kid watching his favorite movie. When I didn’t say anything, she continued. “Oh it must be really big. Alright, let’s see. Does it fit in your mouth? Did you give him a bj?”

“Oh. My. God,” I stressed each word and turned away even more embarrassed than before. “I’m hanging up.”

“She totally gave him a bj!”

“Stop saying it like that,” I groaned. I looked over to Max and wanted to shield his ears from my horny, detail-prying friends.

“Oh I’m sorry princess, _blowjob_ ,” she said elongating every syllable of the word.

“Okay I take it back, say it the other way.”

“Shit, has he returned the favor?” Ashlee inquired. By this point I knew that this interrogation was going to continue and just tried not to indulge them until they stopped. “This little bitch has been holding out on us.”

“No, I just-” I started, exasperatedly, but Tina cut me off.

“Emily, we’re just teasing. What’s up? Talk to us.” Tina’s tone changed and I knew they were back to my best friends who would listen to my problems and give me advice. I guess I couldn’t blame their questioning anyway, what girlfriend doesn’t want to be in on all the juicy details?

“Well…” I took a deep breath. “He seems so experienced and I’m so _not_. What if he’s not really into it?” I picked up a pillow off the other side of my couch and placed it in front of me as a shield.

“Did he say that?” Ashlee asked.

“No, he said it was good.” I smiled, remembering how good it was after and how we had food and laughed. And even after the piano when he made a joke about taking me on every piece of furniture. I hope he kept his word.

“Well then you have nothing to worry about!” Tina said as if it was the easiest thing ever, but it still didn’t entirely click in my head.

“But what if it gets boring?”

“You’ve done it one time! Was it boring?” Tina asked and I said nothing. “You’ve done it more than one time?” She smiled at me as I bit my bottom lip. “Well then what are you worried about? Clearly it wasn’t boring if you did it again!”

“But what if I don’t know what to do?” I asked seriously. Chris’s sexual experience intimidated and thrilled me all at the same time. I was just self-conscious that I wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

“Emily,” Ashlee said seriously. “Whatever you’re feeling just say to him if you like something or want to try something. The worst he can say is no.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Sorry, I feel so stupid when it comes to this stuff.” I sighed and started petting Max again. “But I guess I’ll take it as a good thing that we were on top of his piano and didn’t even waste time getting our shirts off,” I threw my face into the pillow immediately after saying that so that they couldn’t see my face and I couldn’t see theirs.

“Emily! Scandalous!” I heard them shouting. “Yes girl!” Their words made me laugh and leveled the thoughts in my head.

“But I do need your advice on something else.” They stopped laughing and looked towards me, waiting for what I was going to say. “So Chris is going to LA for a few days to help his brother move and I was thinking of slipping, like, a sexy photoshoot into his luggage.”

“Oh my gosh, yes!” Ashlee said immediately.

“I did that for Steve once and when he came back we had the best sex ever.”

I nodded my head and smiled at them. We decided to play Uno together on our Nintendo Switches so when our conversation about me died down, we logged on and started our game. These girls were truly my best friends and no matter how much they made fun of me, I knew they did it out of love and wanting the best for me. They also got my mind turning thinking about the photoshoot I was going to do to leave for Chris when he would be away from me for a few days.

When I hung up with Tina and Ashlee, I did a bit of shopping for the photoshoot and went to bed that night with another smile on my face. I guess quarantine wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to all you guys that yelled at me in the comments and made sure I wrote this chapter! I have big ideas for this story and you guys pushing me and commenting reminds me why I'm doing it. I'm so glad you guys like this little story that brings me happiness when writing it. I can't thank you enough.


	14. Chapter 14

“Chris, I can’t believe how beautiful this house is. Much better than the Lincoln one,” Lisa said as she made her way into Chris’s house. She was holding an aluminum covered tray that Chris grabbed from her as she gave him a one armed hug. “Hi honey.” She kissed him on the cheek as I heard Max and Dodger running to the door.

Scott came up behind me and walked over to his mom to give her a hug too. I stood back in the kitchen while they greeted her because I wasn’t really sure what my place was and felt a little awkward just walking up to get a hug. Tonight we were at Chris’s new house to watch the premiere of _Defending Jacob_. Our watch party of two had turned into four when I invited Scott and Lisa. I wasn’t sure if this was how they would watch Chris’s work but they said that any excuse for the family to get together was a good one.

“Hi sweetheart!” Lisa said as she walked towards me, following Chris into the kitchen. She opened her arms towards me and I mirrored her action. The soft texture of her cream colored sweater made me smile as she wrapped her arms around me. “How are you?”

“Good,” I nodded as we separated. “School keeps me busy.”

Lisa took her purse off and put it down on the island as the dogs jumped at her feet. She smiled and laughed as she leaned down a bit to pet them. “And clearly you’ve been here. These decorative touches are not Chris’s expertise,” she said which caused me to laugh. 

Over the past week, I had been going to Chris’s new house after school to help him unpack things and decorate. It had been a really fun, domestic activity and he really needed the help. It also allowed the dogs to play and get some energy out.

“Oh yeah. There was a definite fight over the fruit bowl so I expect a replacement in the next few days.” I threw him a look as he opened the fridge to put in the dish Lisa had brought. 

“It’s pink!” He protested as he closed the door and looked back at me. Dodger barked in what Chris took as agreement. “See, thank you Dodge.”

“Oh he was totally disagreeing with you, it’s rose gold.” I turned back to Lisa. “It’s a good thing I’m around, he doesn’t even know his colors,” I joked. Chris walked over to me and poked at my hip, causing me to laugh and jump a little.

“Oh!” Lisa clapped her hands together and then pointed her fingers at me. “Chris said your computer had been acting up. I have an old one you can borrow if you need it.”

I smiled at her. “Lisa, that’s so sweet but I think it’s okay. I’m hoping that Best Buy can repair it. It’s pretty old and not cut out for all these new programs they’re getting us on for remote learning.” As of the last two days, my computer battery had died and the computer would only work for me when it was plugged in. And even when it was plugged in, it was the slowest thing on Earth and wouldn’t let me have more than two tabs open at once.

“Well let me know. I know where you live,” she winked at me as she walked past and further into the house. “Oh Christopher, I just love it,” she gushed as she walked into the study with the piano. Chris and I had stacked the shelves full of books and knick knacks. I secretly added a Captain America figure that I’m pretty sure he hasn’t found yet, and if he has then he hasn’t said anything about it.

As Lisa’s eyes slid to the piano my ears started getting hot thinking about what had transpired there earlier in the week and really hoping that she didn’t draw too much attention to it. “Look at this view,” she said looking out the window. The house had a huge backyard with lots of trees for privacy. The sun was setting and the sky was reflecting beautiful colors of the sunset.

“I’m thinking I’ll get a fire pit and some furniture out there. Maybe thinking about a pool, sky’s the limit.”

“He’s always wanted his own party house,” Lisa joked, rolling her eyes and looking back at me. Chris and her were standing at the window and I was standing a bit back by the door. “Good thing he keeps things clean or any of his places would look like a frat boy house.”

Chris turned swiftly towards me with the right corner of his mouth upturned in smirk and a twinkle in his eye. “Too bad his behavior never grew out of that phase,” I teased. When Lisa closed her eyes to laugh, Chris looked me up and down giving me a filthy look that I felt all the way down my spine. He stuck his lip out to wet his bottom lip and then bit it, causing me to press my legs together.

“Is anyone gonna help me?” Scott whined from the kitchen. We had decided to have tacos for dinner and just before Lisa got there, we were working on making them. “Chris, I can’t find anything in this kitchen!” I walked back into the kitchen and saw Scott opening and closing drawers and I just stood there smiling at him. “Where can I get a fucking knife?” He looked at me exasperatedly, only causing me to laugh.

“Top drawer on the corner there,” I pointed to the drawer that I was talking about and laughed when he opened it and looked relieved to finally find what he was looking for. He looked at me in thanks and set the knife next to the cutting board. I walked over to another drawer that was next to the stove and got out a frying pan to get the meat cooking.

Over the past week, Chris and I have created a flow in the kitchen and he’s made it very clear that I’m welcome to cook there whenever I want. Although, he is a much better cook than I am so I usually leave that to him.

As Scott went into the fridge to grab the ingredients to chop up, I asked him to pass me the ground beef so that I could put it in the pan. I opened a top cabinet and grabbed out some oil that I drizzled in the pan and returned to its spot. As I used a knife to pierce the package and was dumping the contents into the pan, I heard Chris and Lisa’s laughter floating into the kitchen.

I took a spatula out of the holder next to the stove and pushed the meat around. I felt a pair of arms grab onto my shoulders and slide their way down my arms. “Mmm, smells good,” Chris said as he kissed the side of my head. He then turned around and rested against the counter next to me. 

“Whoa there Scott, careful,” Lisa said with a laugh. I turned around slightly to see Scott belligerently cutting up a tomato.

“Zach and I broke up,” Scott blurted out randomly, never losing the aggression with which he was cutting. His focus remained on the cutting board as Chris, Lisa, and I immediately looked to him with sorry eyes.

“When?” Lisa stood up to stand next to her son. She wrapped him around the shoulders, but he was determined in his task.

“Last week,” he said shortly. I could hear the emotion in his voice and could tell how hurt he was.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” At this point, Scott had finished chopping the tomato and Lisa took the knife out of his hands and placed it on top of the island as she turned him to hug her.

“I only told Chris so he could help me find a new apartment in LA,” Scott said and took a deep breath, hugging his mom back. “It just wasn’t right anymore. It doesn’t make it hurt any less though.” Scott looked over his mom’s shoulder at me and I offered him a concerned look with a small smile. 

I looked to Chris whose arms were crossed and he was looking at the ground. This was why he was going to LA to help Scott move. Now I felt like an asshole for being upset that Chris was leaving me for a while. Of course he needed to help and be there for his brother.

“I’m sorry Scott,” I said and gave him a hug when Lisa was finished. He smiled in return and then went back to chopping up another tomato.

He took another deep breath and said, “Well cat’s out of the bag, let’s just have a good time, okay?”

“Oh you got that right.” I turned back to the stove. “Chris you need an Alexa to play some music. That’s next on your shopping list.”

Once the taco meat was ready and we had all the fixings in individual bowls on the island, everyone took to making their own plate and brought it to the living room to sit in front of the tv. I was the last one to grab my plate and when I walked into the living room, the tv was set up and there was an open seat next to my boyfriend.

I plopped down next to him and brought my feet up to rest on the coffee table. I put my plate in my lap and grabbed my first taco. The contradiction of the spices in the meat and cool cheese and sour cream made me hum in pleasure. Tacos were one of my favorite foods.

“Here we go,” Scott said as he pressed play on the controller to start the episode. As the slow music started, I felt myself getting giddy. I was so excited to see the show and so proud to be sitting next to Chris, watching it with his family.

I saw Chris walk into view and although you could only see his back, I had to stop myself from smiling. This was a serious show and I reminded myself to separate Chris the person from the character he was playing on the screen. As soon as the court scene happened and Chris’s sunken and sullen face came on the screen, I was immediately sucked in.

When I was finished with my dinner, I put my plate on the coffee table and snuggled a bit more into Chris’s side. He was a bit fidgety, his arm was thrown over my shoulder and he was drawing circles on my shoulder. I could tell that he was nervous about his family watching the show because not only was he the main actor, he also produced the show and worked really hard on it.

Chris was incredible in the show, and I’d be lying if I said he didn’t look incredible too. I secretly hoped that he would grow his hair out a little more because I was loving the Andy Barber look. I bit my lip and looked away from the screen for a moment when he was making out with his wife but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, just weird. That was part of his job, just like having to pretend he was a District Attorney.

I was so hooked into the show, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen. In the final moments when Andy saw the Instagram post of what his son wrote and then the knife in his son’s room, I found myself yelling out, “What the fuck!” When I heard laughter and saw the credits roll, it brought me back to where I was. “Oh my gosh, Lisa I’m so sorry.” I clapped my hand on my mouth and looked at her as she laughed more. I could feel Chris’s body roaring in laughter.

“Oh dear, don’t apologize for me,” she said through laughter. “I’ve heard much worse with these two.” She pointed to her sons and I chuckled along with the rest of them. “Chris, that was so good!”

“Did the son do it?” Scott was sitting on a chair to the left of Chris and I, clutching a pillow against his chest.

“I’m not telling you!”

“He probably did.” Scott nodded. “You saw that knife and he just seems so sneaky.”

“There’s no way!” I said. “He’s fourteen! You were probably sneaky when you were fourteen.”

“Oh, he definitely was,” Lisa said. She was sitting on the other side of the couch that Chris and I were sitting next to each other on.

After finishing the episode, we decided to play a game of Head’s Up that Chris had on his phone, and Scott decided to make it girls against boys so Lisa and I were on a team.

Our favorite categories were “Accents” and “Act it Out” so we continually played those two categories. Lisa had the phone pressed to her head when “Bostonian” appeared on the screen. I laughed and screamed “Oh! Come on!” Because I tried to say it in a Boston accent, it came out as “Ah cahm ahn!” causing everyone to laugh.

Chris grabbed his left peck and threw his head back in laughter. “That’s the worst accent I’ve ever heard!”

“You totally sound like that!” I pointed at him as Lisa said “Bostonian” and lowered the phone down to give our team a point. The next accent was Scottish but I could not for the life of me get that and it ended up sounding more British than Scottish.

My sides hurt from the amount of laughing that I was doing throughout the game. Chris and Scott had their own sibling language so they dominated, but Lisa and I were still good sports and tried our best. I was crying of laughter by the end of the game when Lisa announced that it was time for her to head back home.

Scott decided that it was time for him to head home as well and we all said our goodbyes. It took us about forty-five minutes to actually say goodbye because we kept talking by the front door. When Lisa and Scott finally left in their respective cars, Chris and I walked back to our spot on the couch. I grabbed a chunk of brownie from the pan that Lisa brought and snuggled back into Chris’s side.

I pulled off a piece and popped it in my mouth. Lisa’s brownies were excellent. She put dark chocolate chunks in them and they melted in my mouth. Chris was quiet as I finished my brownie and the dogs made themselves comfortable on the couch next to us. “I can’t believe how good the show was.”

Chris let out a breath and said “thank you.” He leaned down to kiss the top of my head which made me close my eyes and smile.

“I’m so proud of you. You are an incredible actor. Like, I don’t even think people realize it.” I started to run my fingers along his t-shirt and pick at a stray piece of fuzz. I looked up at him and he was looking away from me, out the back window. “Do _you_ even know how good you are?”

A small smile spread across his face and he looked down at me. He didn’t say anything but he leaned down to press a kiss to my mouth. “That means a lot.”

“I’m serious! Do you know how good you are?” I pulled away from him a bit because I was a bit shocked. He had to know how good he was.

He slowly nodded his head. “I’ve been acting for a long time. There’s gotta be a reason why I keep getting auditions.” He laughed and I nestled back into his side. After a bit of silence he said, “This was a lot different than my other roles, so I think I’m more nervous for people to see this one.”

“Well baby, when’s the Emmys because if you don’t get a nomination then I’ve got a bone to pick with them,” I said, causing Chris to laugh. “I can’t wait to watch the rest and find out what happens. There’s no way the son did it.” I looked up at him to see if he’d give me any kind of hint but he just smiled. “Oh come on! Nothing?”

“Be happy you weren’t dating me during the Avenger days. Scott tried to pry details out of me for _months_ and it was so hard not to say anything.” I laughed at that because I could totally see Scott annoying Chris to try and get something out of him. Not even because he wanted to know what happened, but because he just wanted to know that Chris would tell him.

It was then I remembered what Scott had told us while preparing dinner. “I can’t believe Scott and his boyfriend broke up. I feel so bad. I didn’t know him, but it sounded like they really liked each other.”

“Yeah, they did. It’s so weird. He says that they just kind of fell out of love with each other.” Chris shook his head. “At least it was mutual and he saw it coming. Like he said, it doesn’t hurt any less though.”

“Good thing he has such a good brother to help him move and get him through it,” I looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back at me and leaned down to capture my lips. I leaned into him a bit so that I could get closer to him and after a few kisses we broke apart. “Tonight was so much fun. I love your family.”

“And they love you.” He kissed me again and then pulled back to whisper, “Want to know a secret?” I raised my eyebrows, silently asking what the secret was and a smirk made its way to his lips. They were glistening from our kiss. “My mom says you’re her favorite girl of mine she’s ever met.” He kissed me again and said, “I’d have to agree.”

My face immediately broke into a smile and I could feel the tingles rising in my chest. I kissed him and he grabbed my face to keep me close to him and keep our kissing going. After a few moments of kissing in this position, I moved to sit on his lap. One of his arms was wrapped around my waist to hold me there and his other was cupped around my head, weaved into my hair.

The way Chris kissed me was unlike anything else. He tasted sweet and his manly scent was heavenly. His kisses usually started sweet and ramped up the more we kissed and this time was no different. I felt his tongue brush against my lip and I opened my mouth to allow him in. I loved the feeling of his tongue battling against mine. He tangled his hand into my hair and pressed my face against him even more. Although I don’t think we could have gotten much closer if we tried.

I ground my hips against his as our kisses became faster and we hungered for each other. With the hand still wrapped around my waist and holding onto me, he brought my t-shirt up a little bit and his fingers danced across my skin. I whimpered when he pulled away from my mouth but then gasped when he fixed his mouth to the soft skin of my clavicle.

He slowly kissed his way up my neck and nipped at my ear, causing me to suck in a breath. “Bedroom?” Chris whispered into my ear. He pulled back to look me in the eyes and brushed my fallen hair away from my face.

I couldn’t say anything so I just nodded and he swiftly picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. The ease with which he could lift me was incredibly sexy and as soon as he began walking, I reattached our lips together.

Unfortunately in order to get to the bedroom, we had to walk up the stairs. We kissed until he got to the bottom step and instead I started my attack on his neck so that he could guide us up. He stumbled a bit when he got to the top step but we laughed when he regained his footing and brought us into his room.

When he threw me down on the bed and closed the door, I immediately became nervous. Chris and I hadn’t had sex since he brought me to his house for the first time. This week had been really busy and I was usually home before nine o’clock so that I could get ready for school the next day.

I was suddenly in my head, thinking about how disappointing I might be and Chris could immediately see it on my face when he came back to me. He crawled up the bed towards me and gave me a look of concern. “You okay?”

I shook my head to release the thoughts and grabbed either side of his face to pull him down to me. He pulled back which disoriented me and I furrowed my brow in confusion. He rolled over to lay next to me, instead of on top of me and propped his head up with his hand.

“Something changed. What’s up?” I was instantly upset that my insecurities made their way through to Chris. I shook my head and looked up at the ceiling. I hated myself because I ruined the moment and I could feel a burning sensation begin behind my eyes. “Baby,” Chris started.

“It’s nothing.” I cut him off. It wasn’t nothing and I knew that, but if I convinced myself that then maybe I could convince him. I wanted to go back to our moment on the couch when I wasn’t thinking about how many girls he had been with and if I was enough for him.

Chris remained quiet, and I don’t think he knew how much I really needed that. I was trying to work through my emotions in my head and a few tears finally fell. He used his thumb to wipe the tears from my cheeks and then grabbed my hand. He held my hand between us and rubbed the back of it. “You can tell me,” he said. “Whenever you're ready.”

We stayed like that for a little while. I wasn’t exactly sure how long but Chris’s eyes stayed trained on me until I spoke. I laughed a bit to try and stop the tears and looked at him. “You know that I didn’t lose my virginity until I was twenty-seven.” He nodded. “So I’ve only ever been with you and one other guy,” I said quickly, subconsciously hoping he wouldn’t hear that I had only been with two men although I know he knew. “So, I’m just nervous that-” I paused because more tears started coming. “I’m not enough. That you’ve had so much better and I’ll get boring for you.” In my usual fashion, I brought my hands up to cover my face but because Chris was holding my hand, he stopped me from doing so.

“Do you know how you make me feel?” Chris said seriously. I just looked at him. He took the hand that he was holding and pressed it against his chest. I could feel his heart beating. We stared into each other’s eyes. “Yes, I’ve been with a good amount of women. I’m not gonna lie about that. But right now you’re the only woman that does this to me.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed it. “And you’re the only woman I _want_ to do that to me.”

I bit my lip to stop the tears from continuing to flow, this time because my heart was beating so fast at the words he said. At this point, it wasn’t butterflies that were in my stomach. It felt like my insides were being torn out, twisted, and put back in my body. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, my breath was getting caught in my throat.

“And I might have more experience, but that just means I can tell you what I like, and we can figure out what you like.” He licked his lips seductively and looked down at me through heavy-lidded eyelashes. “Do you want to know what else you do to me?” He still had my hand in his and this time he brought my hand down to the tent that was amassing in his jeans. He brought his face just inches away from mine and looked me directly in his eyes.

My tears had stopped and now my breath was caught in my throat for another reason. Chris and I were just staring at each other with my hand still on his erection and our breaths filling the silence. He broke the silence and slowly brought his mouth to mine in a hot kiss. As things heated up, I squeezed him through his jeans and caused the sweet sound of a moan to come out of his mouth.

He moved to be on top of me again with one hand on either side of my head. “Do you want to know what I like?” I only nodded my head and looked at him. A wicked smirk painted across his face, and if I wasn’t already dripping wet, I was now. “For starters, this way is great.” He kissed just under my ear and then grabbed me around the waist, flipping us to lay next to each other and causing a yelp to come from me. “But we could do it this way,” he said into my ear. He was behind me and thrust his hips up to meet my backside.

I couldn’t contain my eyes rolling back into my head at the thought of Chris having his way with me like this. With his hands still on my waist, he flipped me again so that I was laying on my stomach. I looked behind me to see Chris get up on his knees and then felt him pull my waist up so that I was on all fours.

With his hips lined up to mine, he thrust his hips towards mine again. “Or this way,” he said as he laid his body on top of mine and again kissed me under my ear. I could feel myself absolutely dripping wet at the thought of him. I knew that my panties were ruined, but I was absolutely okay with that fact. My entire body was humming with anticipation. “Or my favorite way,” I heard Chris say from behind me.

He once again turned me around by my waist. He laid down next to me and then picked me up so that I was sitting down on his lap. I could feel him throbbing underneath me, as he sat up and held me steady.

“This way I can see you when you come on my cock,” he said and I immediately mashed my legs together, trying to get any friction or sense of relief there. He pulled me to him in a historic kiss that I felt all the way down my toes.

As soon as that kiss happened, all bets were off. Hands were flying everywhere and our mouths battled for dominance against one another. “We’re wearing far too many clothes right now,” I whispered against his mouth and without hesitation, he stripped me of my shirt. He kissed the top of each of my breasts that spilled out of my bra. As he did, I slid my hands underneath his shirt and almost ripped it in the process.

My fingers immediately traced his large eagle tattoo that rested on his left peck. Chris had quite a few tattoos and this was one of my favorites. He told me there were some he regretted, but there was always a reason behind each one. 

He unhooked my bra and threw it to the ground, pinching each of my nipples and making me moan in delight. I shifted a bit and since I was right in front of him, he took a mouth full of my breast. I ground down against him, needing him inside me.

“Chris,” I said. When he didn’t stop, I said his name again. Instead, he moved his mouth to my other breast. So instead I said, “Chris I need you inside me,” to get his attention. It was clear that it did because he popped me out of his mouth and scrambled to throw off my yoga pants. He gripped the sides of my pants and slid them down my legs so fast that I started to laugh when he hurriedly pulled his own pants off.

“Oh now you’re laughing at me?” Chris said with a smile. “Let’s see who’s laughing now.” He slowly dragged a finger across my center and my hips bucked into his. “Baby girl.” His voice was full of desire and I’m sure if I spoke in that moment, it would sound exactly the same. “You are dripping, baby girl.”

“Chris, just please.” I cringed when I heard my own voice. It was so whiny and desperate, but I was craving him. He tore my underwear and slipped himself out of his. I was still straddling his waist, and he tried to flip me around but I stopped him. I remember what he told me about what he liked and wanted to try one of these positions. I grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a small kiss. “I want to try this way,” I said and bit my lip.

He held me by my waist and leaned over to his nightstand to grab a condom. I got off his lap for a minute so that he could slide it on and then I repositioned myself on top of him. My neck got hot and I knew I was nervous but the next thing Chris said brought me back to reality and the blush went away. “I got you baby girl. If you don’t like it, if anything hurts you’ve got to tell me immediately, okay?” He looked seriously into my eyes and I nodded my head.

I grabbed him by the shoulders again to steady myself. He helped me push up off him slightly and then guided himself into me. With this new position, Chris filled me more than he had before and it caused a bit of discomfort as my body stretched to accommodate him. I winced a bit at the pain and Chris’s eyes found mine but I shook my head. “No, it’s good. I’m good.” 

As soon as Chris started moving his hips and thrusting into me, I forgot about all the pain and focused solely on the pleasure. The fire burned in my stomach and erupted in my throat, my breath becoming more high-pitched every time our hips met until eventually I couldn't muster up sound to come out of my mouth.

My eyes rolled back in my head as an orgasm took over me and my walls clenched around Chris’s dick. “Chris, I’m--I’m, unh.” The last sound wasn’t a word because my feelings overwhelmed me.

“Let go baby, cover me. Cover my cock.” He continued to move in and out of me as my entire body tingled. His thrusts became faster and deeper and I could tell he was reaching his high as well. My hands were on his shoulders to steady myself and his were wrapped around my waist. The sloppier his thrusts became, his hands grabbed onto my breasts as they bounced in front of his face.

He twisted my nipples and caused another orgasm to start deep within me. I pushed down on his shoulders to lift myself up a bit and meet his hips. The only sound filling the room was our skin connecting with each other and Chris’s grunts and moans. I continued to bounce myself on top of him, even after I could tell he was spilling himself into the condom so that I could reach my second high. “Shit, fuck,” Chris said which caused me to explode again.

The movement of our bodies slowed and Chris pulled out of me. I collapsed on him and felt the ache between my legs. Each of us were covered in a layer of sweat and my hair was plastered to my face, yet I smiled when I looked at him.

“God, you’re fucking gorgeous,” Chris said and kissed me. “I don’t ever want to hear that you’re not enough because holy shit baby girl.” I smiled and turned my head to bury it into his chest.

We stayed like that for another hour, but then eventually got ready for bed. I didn’t bring a change of clothes because I wasn’t expecting to stay but when Chris asked if I would, my answer was immediately “yes.” He gave me a t-shirt to wear and it smelled of his delicious scent. 

I walked into the bathroom to freshen myself up and change and when I rolled over Chris and off his bed, my legs ached and I felt a slight stabbing pain between them. “Oh wow,” I said when my legs hit the ground. I grabbed the shirt that Chris had given me and made my way to the bathroom.

“You okay?” I heard Chris say. He was still laying in the comforter on the bed. I looked back at him. One of his hands was leaning on the bed, holding up his head. His hair had started to grow a bit and was spiky at the front. I smiled at how good he looked. The covers were falling down the front and I could see his bare chest which made my mouth water.

“Yeah, I think I’m just not used to that position. Or your size,” I said which made him smirk and laugh. “Your ego’s already big enough, don’t let that go to your head.” As I closed the door to the bathroom I heard him yell to me that it was too late. 

I quickly did my business, and washed off with a washcloth from the closet and threw Chris’s shirt on. I inhaled deeply because his shirt smelled of his deep scent that I couldn’t get enough of. I wanted to be surrounded in it and this shirt allowed me to. I remembered I hadn’t brought a change of underwear so I was going to have to go commando tonight.

When I came back to the room, the dogs were settled on the bed and Chris was scrolling through his phone. He smiled at me when I stopped at the door for a second to take in the sight before me. Max and Dodger were cuddled together on the bottom of the bed, Max’s hand thrown over Dodger’s snout. “Something you like?” Chris said, suggestively. He bent his arm behind his head and moved his eyebrows up and down at me.

I laughed and then ran at the empty spot on the right side of the bed, jumping onto my back as I did. The dogs lifted their heads to see what the commotion was and then immediately dropped them again, back into the slumber.

Chris lifted the comforter for me and I scrambled to get under it. I cuddled next to him, laying my hand on his chest and tangling one of my legs with his. I sighed as I settled into the comfortable position, feeling absolutely content.

“Comfy?” Chris asked and then kissed the top of my head. I nodded against his chest with my eyes closed and a smile. Chris nestled himself a bit more into the bed and wrapped his arm around me. The two of us fell asleep like that not long after.

I woke up in the morning feeling rested, but without Chris next to me. I looked around as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stretched out my limbs. There was still a slight ache between my legs, but it just reminded me of last night and a smile made its way to my face. The dogs were no longer at the bottom of the bed. I touched my phone, bringing it to light and showing that it was about nine o’clock.

Wandering out of the bedroom, the house was quiet. I didn’t hear Chris or the dogs. I made my way down the steps and into the kitchen, but no one was there either. I finally found Chris in the dining room, sitting at the table with his computer in front of him.

“Hey, do you have an interview?” I asked. The dogs were asleep under the table. I walked over to him and could hear people talking from the computer. Chris just looked over at me and slightly nodded his head. I went to walk closer to him but realized that he was in the middle of the interview as I was speaking. “Oh are you doing it right now?” He looked up for a moment and then over at me with his hand covering his mouth and slightly nodded his head again. He wanted to tell me, but not make it known to the people in the interview.

“Oops,” I said softly to myself and gave Chris an apologetic look. I quietly made my way into the kitchen to try and make some breakfast. Although Chris was relatively far away in the dining room, I could still hear him so I tried not to make any noise.

I slowly opened a cabinet to grab a bowl, then took out some cereal and grabbed milk from the fridge. After carefully opening the box and silently pouring the cereal into a bowl, I winced because I heard Chris laugh and then start talking. “Yeah, I’m in Massachusetts. It’s nice, it’s just been me and my dog.” I laughed and covered my mouth because my laugh was audible.

That liar. He was not quarantining with just himself and his dog. If they saw him nod at me not even five seconds before that they would have known. I grabbed my cereal and took a seat at the island to eat.

When I finished my breakfast, I could still hear Chris in his interview so I went back up to his bedroom to get dressed. I made an appointment with the Geek Squad at Best Buy for noon to get my computer looked at today. I threw my yoga pants, bra, and shirt on from yesterday.

I straightened out Chris’s comforter and sat on the bed, aimlessly scrolling through my phone. After about 20 minutes of liking posts on Instagram, I heard Chris’s feet walking up the stairs. “Sorry about that,” he said and walked over to his closet.

“I’m the one that should be sorry. I interrupted you.” When he came out of the closet I saw he replaced his dark blue polo for a more comfortable long sleeve Patriots shirt. “Although I guess I should get out of your hair since you’re only quarantining with your dog,” I joked and held back a smile.

Chris sat down next to me and fell behind me with his hands wrapped around my waist. “Well I’m not gonna say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m quarantining with my super hot girlfriend, want to meet her?’” His hands poked at my sides causing me to laugh as he tickled me.

“Chris, stop!” I whined, trying to push him off me but he just kept going at it. The symphony of our laughter together continued as he pinned me down to the bed. He was much stronger than me and used his hips against mine to keep me flat against the bed. “No fair, you’re bigger than me,” I whined and pouted. He just smiled and kissed my pouted lips which made me pout again.

I tried to push him off but he stayed firmly on top of me. “I like this position.” He wiggled his eyebrows and kissed me again.

“Get off me, hornball.” I tried to push him again but couldn’t so I threw my arms out on the bed in defeat. “I do have to go soon though. I got an appointment at noon to get my computer fixed!”

“I guess,” he sighed like a kid that wasn’t getting his way. “But only if you come back later for some Netflix and chill.”

Laughter erupted from me immediately as he said that. “The old man is trying out his hip new lingo, huh?”

“Don’t start again. You didn’t win the last time.”

I tried to push him off once more and it didn’t work at all. I was using basically all of my strength and he wasn’t even trying to keep me down. “Okay, fine. You win!”

After a few more minutes and several more kisses, Chris finally let me get up and go back to my house so I could get to my appointment. I wasn’t sure who was more upset about me leaving, Chris or Dodger. Max didn’t come when I called for him and Chris and I found him and Dodger snuggled next to each other on the couch, Dodger’s paw on Max’s back, keeping him down as Chris had done to me. These Evans boys, my goodness.

Max and I went back to my house and as we walked up the steps, there was a package waiting for me. I picked it up and looked at the return address and got excited when I realized it was the lingerie I had ordered for the photoshoot I was doing for Chris. 

I stuck my key in the lock and turned it, opening the front door and letting Max in the house. Max immediately ran for his water bowl and as he lapped up some water, I leaned down to take his leash off. I shut the front door and then dropped my belongings onto the island. Slightly running over to my utensil drawer, I grabbed out a pair of scissors to open my package.

I tore out the lace bodysuit and immediately began sweating because of how small it was. I’m honestly worried that I won’t fit into this. It was an entirely lace halter top with spaghetti straps that tied just behind my neck. The neckline went down to just above my belly button and the bottom was a completely sheer panel. The sides were a bit high cut, but I knew that whatever it looked like was going to drive Chris absolutely crazy.

I laughed as I looked at the lingerie because as I held it in front of my body, it wasn’t even as big as my torso. I didn’t have time to try it on, so I was going to have to wait to try it on and do my photoshoot.

After stashing the material away in my closet, I grabbed my computer and the charger so that I was ready to head to my appointment. As I put Max away in his crate, I regretted not asking Chris if he could just stay at his house but I shook my head because I wouldn’t want to bother him to take care of my dog.

“Bye boy! I’ll be back soon!” I picked up my laptop, slung my bag over my shoulder and was out the door.

Driving during the time of quarantine was still a weird thing. You could tell that people weren’t going anywhere, because there weren't many people on the road. It saddened me but made me chuckle as I saw that masks were the new air freshener that people hung from the mirror in their car. I had fallen victim to that trend and had my mask hooked around the center mirror in my car as well.

Pulling into the Best Buy parking lot, there was a short line of cars outside the front of the building. There were signs for Geek Squad and curbside pick up, as those were the only two services they were offering right now. You couldn’t even go inside the store to shop.

I waited in the line of cars until it was my turn to pull up. I told the man that I had a Geek Squad appointment for noon and he checked me in. He then had me pull up to the Geek Squad man that asked me what was wrong with my computer and what I needed help with today. “I’ve been using it for remote school and the amount of programs my school is making me download has made the computer go really slow. And it won’t work unless it’s plugged in. The battery is completely dead.”

The Geek Squad worker named Garick nodded and told me to park. He took my phone number in case he had any questions while he was in the store fixing it. I pulled my car into a spot and began the wait.

As I was about twenty minutes into waiting, I got a text message from Tina, and it was a link to an Instagram video. She didn’t send any other messages with it, so I clicked on it and watched the video load on my phone.

What I saw completely shocked me. It was a fanpage of Chris’s and the video was of his interview this morning. The short video only included the moments of Chris looking off at the screen and nodding and then looking off again to nod with his head in his hand. The caption was, “Chris says it’s just him and his dog in quarantine but I don’t think it’s his dog he’s nodding to” with a plethora of hashtags after it.

My hands started sweating as I looked through the comments. Most people were convinced that it was probably Scott or his mom that he was nodding at. There were only a few people who decided it could have been a significant other or something else he could have been nodding at.

 _Oh shit_ , I sent back to Tina in our group message. _He was nodding at me_. I sent an emoji that mirrored the face I was making. Tina just sent a series of the emoji that was laughing and crying. We have two very different reactions to this scenario.

I know there is no possible way that anyone was going to find out it was me he was nodding to, and if anyone asked he could just as easily say it was Scott. But, I couldn’t help but feel like it was too close to comfort. I loved what Chris and I currently had and I wasn’t ready for the whole world to know. And I know that he was a very private person and I’m sure he didn’t want it to get out either.

As I felt my thoughts spiraling, my phone started vibrating with a number I didn’t recognize. Nervously, I answered it and sighed with relief when the voice on the phone said it was Garick, the Geek Squad guy.

“Hi! Is everything okay?”

“Unfortunately,” Garick started and I balled my fist up, putting it against my forehead in frustration. “We’re gonna need to send it out because I don’t have the equipment here to fix it. They’ll probably give it a new battery, but there’s not much we can do for the processing speed. It’s a really old computer. Honestly your best bet might be trading this in for the parts and using the money for a new computer. But it’s completely up to you.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn’t have the money to pay for a new computer. I thought about Lisa’s offer of a laptop and realized that was going to be my only option. “You can send it out. That’s fine. Do you know how long it will take?”

“Probably not any longer than a week,” Garick said. “You can bring it back if there’s things you need on it or I can send it right now.”

I felt completely defeated so I just said, “Just send it now. That’s fine. Thanks.”

“Alright. We’ll give you a call when it comes back for you to pick it up!” He tried to make his goodbye cheerful and I felt really bad for him because it wasn’t his fault but I felt like I was blaming him.

“Thanks,” I said, defeated. Garick hung up and I slumped over the steering wheel. After hanging my head in silence for a minute, I sighed and then unlocked my phone. I opened my messages and scrolled down to Lisa’s name. _Hey Lisa, it looks like my computer is gonna have to be sent away for a few days to get fixed. Is the computer you have still available and could I come by sometime today to pick it up?_

I waited a few minutes for her response but when it didn’t come, I put the car in reverse and started on my journey back home.

By the time I got home, Lisa had texted me back and told me to come over to grab the laptop. So I parked in my driveway and before I went into my house, I made my way over to hers. I dragged my feet a bit because I was upset that I even needed to be getting a replacement for my laptop but I needed it to be able to work. I also hated asking for help.

“Hi Lisa,” I said as she opened the door. “I’m really sorry about this. It’s so annoying.” I slightly laughed as she welcomed me into her house.

“Oh dear, it’s no problem at all! I’m glad I had this for you!” She led me into the dining room and she already had the laptop and the cord on the table, waiting for me. “I plugged it in for a bit to charge but you’ll probably need to plug it in again.”

I sighed and smiled at her. “Thank you. Honestly, you have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

“Are you kidding me? Sweetheart, I’m here for whatever you need.” Lisa rubbed my arm, comfortingly. I hadn’t realized how much I missed my mom but I truly did in this moment. Lisa was a great substitute mom for the time being. Chris was really lucky. And I was pretty lucky too. “Do you want anything? Water?”

I let out a small laugh at her hospitality but shook my head. “I’d love to, but I’ve got to get over to let Max out.” I picked up the laptop and made my way back towards the door. “He’s probably doing his pee pee dance by now.”

Lisa laughed at that and nodded. “I know that dance very well!” I opened the door and turned around to say my goodbyes and she said, “Well you’re welcome over anytime. We should have tea together sometime, just text me and let me know.”

Her offer brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. “I will definitely hold you to that. I’d love to.” She opened her arms for a hug and although it was awkward with the laptop in my hands, I stepped into them. Lisa wrapped her arms around me in a big hug and I probably let myself stay in her arms a little too long.

As she dropped her arms from around me she said, “You don’t know how happy you make me because you make my son so happy. But I think if he ever hurts you I’ll have to disown him.” That made me throw my head back in laughter. I certainly hoped that never happened, but I was glad to have someone like her in my life. It was just a bonus to being Chris’s girlfriend.

“Well he makes me pretty happy too,” I said with a smile. I walked out on to Lisa’s porch and told her that I would text her to make plans for tea within the next week. She smiled at me as she said goodbye and closed the door. The smile was plastered on my face all the way back to my house.

I opened the front door and heard Max scratching at his crate when I did. “Hi Maxy boy! Did ya miss me?” All my worries and stress had faded when I saw his face. “Alright boy, I gotcha.” I put the laptop down on the island and went over to let him out of his crate. I laughed at him as he wiggled in excitement. He jumped up to lean on my legs as he stretched himself out from being stuffed in his crate for so long. “Wanna go out boy?”

As soon as I asked that, he ran over to the door and sat in front of it, looking back at me. I put my crocs on and took him out so that he could do his business.

I spent the rest of my day charging the laptop and trying to get used to it. I had my Macbook for a long time so it took me a bit to get used to the Dell laptop. I was so grateful that Lisa had this for me to use in the meantime, but I couldn’t wait to get my Macbook back. That thing had been with me for a long time and it was pretty expensive so it was going to be with me until it completely died.

Just before I went to bed that night, I was scrolling through Instagram and was reminded again about Chris’s fans speculating who he was nodding at in his interview. There were even articles written about it! I was still slightly freaking out but reminded myself that there was absolutely no way that people would find out who I was. Unless someone recognized him and took pictures when we were at Lowe’s one time. Chris had reassured me then that people don’t usually take pictures of him when he’s home, but I’m sure if they could get a look at his new girlfriend then they would take a picture.

I scrolled through photos and videos and let my thoughts get the better of me until the minute I fell asleep that night. I woke up the next morning with my phone still in my hand. When I got up, I threw it on the charger since I didn’t have it charging overnight and went to the kitchen to make my breakfast.

Later in the day I got a text from Chris asking if I was home. _Where else would I be?_ I sent back to him.

 _I’ve got a present for you. Be there soon. Dodge too._ I knit my brows together in confusion. What kind of present could he possibly have for me? And why did he have a present for me? It wasn’t a holiday, nor was it my birthday. It was just a random Sunday at the end of April.

 _What do you mean, a present?_ Was the last text message I sent to him before he arrived at my house.

He laughed when I opened the door because I was pouting and my brow was pressed down, trying to look like I was angry with him. I saw the present bag in his hand and looked at it and then back up towards me. My eyes quickly glanced to Dodger who was on the other side of him and I was trying really hard not to smile as he laughed and then kissed me on the cheek. “Why did you get me a present?”

“What? I can’t get you a present?” He had Dodger’s leash in his right hand. Max started jumping around and sniffing Dodger as they got reacquainted with each other. They chased each other onto the couch and sat down next to each other. I smiled at them. They were the best of friends and it made me so happy.

“Well it’s not my birthday. Or Christmas.” I was still trying to figure out why he would get me a present. “So why do you have a present for me?”

He put the bag on my island and pushed it towards me. He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and motioned towards it. “Just open it.”

“But I don’t have anything for you,” I pushed my lips forward into a pout and he rolled his eyes. “And there’s no reason for you to get me a present.” I stuffed my hands into my sweatshirt and looked again at the package on the counter. The bag was just light purple, and there was no script written on it to give me a clue as to why he was giving me this present. 

“Em, just open it.” He pushed it towards me again. I tried to watch how he pushed it so I could judge how heavy the present was and what it could possibly be. I bit my lip and looked at him. “It’s a ‘just because’ present. It’s something you need. So just open it.” He sat down on the stool by the island and just looked at me with his arms crossed.

I skeptically pulled the package towards me. I was standing across from him as I peeked into the package. Whatever the present was was covered by tissue paper. “Is it new underwear to replace the ones you ruined?” I joked. “I’m definitely in need of a new pair of those. Or an ice pack for my sore legs?”

“Oh baby girl, I always ruin your underwear.” He gave me a wink and we both laughed while I also rolled my eyes. I started to remove the top few pieces of tissue paper from the package and he was still just smiling at me.

When I grabbed the box that was in the present bag, I lifted it out and was immediately shocked. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I put it back in the bag and just looked at him, angrily. This time I actually was angry. He didn’t say anything, just looked at me with a smile on his face. “Chris are you actually fucking kidding me?”

I pulled the white box out of the package to reveal the whole thing. There was a sleek, silver laptop on the cover and “Macbook Pro” written on the side. Chris smiled at me, “I know you need a laptop for work and I know you, you won’t get yourself a new one.”

“Chris, I can’t take this. Do you know how much money these are?!” I stared at the box on the island. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I couldn't believe him. These laptops are like two grand and he drops two grand on a present, “just because”?!

“Em, your laptop isn’t working. My mom told me you picked up the one from her but that’s not going to get you through remote learning until the end of the year. And when you get your laptop back from getting fixed, you’ll just add more programs to it and it will be slow again. You need a new one.”

I stood up and leaned my hands on the counter. “I know I need a new one. I can’t afford a new one,” I said the last part quietly.

Although it was quiet, Chris still heard me. He got up and walked over to me, pulling me to him. He wrapped my arms around him and then wrapped his own arms around me. “And I can, and I wanted to do this for you,” he said into my hairline. He placed a kiss there and I relaxed in his comforting embrace.

It was hard to take this from him because I had become very independent at a young age and I didn’t want to rely on anyone for anything that I needed. Even if that meant a family member or a significant other. If I was going to get a computer, I was going to pay for it myself. Especially one that was this expensive. And I didn’t want him to think that I expected him to do this like this for me. “You know I’m not with you because you have money, right?” I mumbled against his chest.

I felt more than heard his laughter as he tightened his arms around me. “Baby, of course I do.” He paused for a moment and then said, “You’re with me for my body.” He wiggled his body against mine, making me laugh but then I hit him on his arm and looked up at him.

“I’m serious!” I whined. “Chris, this is too much. I can’t take it.”

He looked at me seriously. “Do you need a new laptop for work?” I looked away and nodded my head into his chest. “Then let me do this for you.”

I sighed. I really didn’t want to take it but it was an incredible gesture on Chris’s part and I was so thankful for it. Honestly, even just knowing I had a new laptop made a lot of my stress go away. “Can I repay you for it?”

Chris shook his head. “Nope. I won’t have that. Unless it’s in kisses of course,” he said as he leaned down towards me to properly kiss me for the first time since he arrived at my house. I leaned up to meet his lips again. “Mmm, the only payment I will accept.”

I knew he was stubborn and wasn’t going to accept no for an answer so I simply pressed my lips against his and pulled him closer to me, although that felt completely impossible. His hard body was pressed completely against mine and I couldn’t have felt more blissful and at ease than in that moment. “Thank you,” I said against his lips. A tear ran down my cheek because of how truly thankful I was for him. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Well baby girl, you have no idea how much _you_ mean to me.” Chris kissed me again and I happily kissed him back.

“Oh I think I do.” I wiggled my eyebrows up at him. He was pressed so tightly against me that I could feel him growing against my belly. “You’re always ready, huh?”

Chris just picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and walked me to my bedroom. He threw me down on my bed as I giggled the entire time.

Hours later, Chris and I were tangled in each other, laying under my sheets with the smell of him and sex in the air around us. My hands were on his chest as we were talking about anything and everything. We talked about our dream vacations, favorite color, pet peeves, deepest fears, and what we were like in middle school.

I learned that Chris wanted to live in the mountains and his dream vacation was a secluded cabin anywhere in the woods, his favorite color was blue, his pet peeves were people that were late and rude to others for no reason, he was deathly afraid of confined or closed off spaces and spiders, and he was a tall, awkward, dork in middle school.

Talking with Chris like this was slowly becoming one of my favorite things to do. I loved learning more about him and telling him more about myself. After talking for a while, the dogs made their way into my room and onto my bed. “Can’t stay away from him for long, can you Dodgey boy?” I said as Dodger jumped onto Chris and started liking his face.

Chris laughed and turned his face so that Dodger couldn’t get him directly in the mouth. Max just watched the scene happen and made himself comfy at the end of my bed. “Dodge! Dodger!” Chris kept saying, trying to get him off. “Look, Max is waiting for you!” He pointed to the end of the bed. “Go see him, bud!”

Dodger finally left Chris alone and cuddled at the end of the bed with Max. I snuggled back into Chris’s side and was reminded about the Instagram post that my friends sent to me yesterday. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry about interrupting your interview yesterday. Some people were talking about it on Instagram.” I looked up at him with an apologetic look on his face.

He pulled away from me to look at me fully and looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday, you were in your interview and I came into the room and you nodded at me, and people reposted it on Instagram, questioning who you were nodding at.” I bit my lip and looked up at him, apologetically. “I think they’ve settled on it being Scott, but some people think it might be a girl.”

He just laughed. “Oh, let them think whatever. It’s not a big deal.”

“Some of your fans were really nice though! Saying that if it was a girl, who cares as long as he’s happy.”

“Well then it’s a good thing I am.” Chris leaned down and kissed me again.

I convinced Chris to stay the night with me although I had work in the morning and he had a few interviews to get ready for. He told me he even had a meeting for his political website which I was eager to hear more about. His work was incredible and he inspired me with all the good things he wanted to do with the platform he was given. And it amazed me that a person as astounding and inspirational as him, wanted to be with me. I was an incredible lucky girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grad school is kicking my butt guys. I'm graduating this month so I apologize for the long waits between chapters. I hope the long and cute chapter makes up for it! I loved writing this one so much. Next is Emily's photoshoot for Chris and his reaction, so stay tuned for that. As always I love getting your kudos and comments! It means so much to me!!!


	15. Chapter 15

“Guys, he bought me a Macbook. I’m zooming you right now on a _Macbook_.” I was twirling a piece of hair between my fingertips because I was nervous talking about it. It was Monday again and Tina, Ashlee, and I were back to our usual girls’ night. I made sure to tell Chris that I couldn’t hang out tonight because I’ll admit, I’d been wrapped up in my new romance that I haven’t exactly been there for my friends.

“Wow,” Tina said. She was currently crocheting, one of her newest quarantine activities. She’d gotten really good at it. I hadn’t seen her look down once in our conversation.

“I know. I told him it was too much. But also I’m really thankful for it,” I sighed.

“That’s amazing.” Ashlee shrugged and had a sour look on his face. She paused but made a face and I could tell she wanted to say something. She blew out a breath, looked down and said, “I’m so jealous. This is like romcom status.”

Her comment made heat rise up my neck and I could see the blush on my face on the screen. I bit down on my cheek because I really didn’t know what to say to that. It felt like a romcom status romance. When else does your neighbor have a hot son that comes home and does unspeakable things to your body and makes you feel things you haven’t felt before?

I picked up my wine glass and took a sip, not knowing how to continue the conversation. “It’s okay though, cause your girl’s on Tinder,” Ashlee said and made us laugh by doing a small dance.

For the rest of the night we talked about how Ashlee was starting to get onto dating apps. While she wasn’t looking for anything serious (especially because she wasn’t about to meet anyone in the middle of a pandemic she added, several times), she said she was having fun flirting with guys.

Tina and I were absolutely on board because why not flirt with a couple of guys when you’re home alone? If I hadn’t met Chris I might be doing the exact same thing.

After ending the call with my friends and them endlessly teasing me about not missing our next girl’s night, I laid down on the bed, on top of Max who was next to me. “I love my friends, Maxy,” I smiled and kissed the side of his head. “Ready to go pee and go to bed, boy?”

Max immediately jumped off the bed and ran towards the door which made me laugh. On our way out, I saw the package that arrived the other day which made the blush return to my neck. It was the lingerie that I bought so I could surprise Chris with a photoshoot when he went to California. Selfishly I wanted to make sure he didn’t forget about me while he was in the land of models and actresses.

Maxy and I came back inside and commenced our nightly routine. I was climbing into bed when my phone went off, bringing a smile to my face at the name that popped up on the screen. I immediately brought the phone up to my face to unlock it and get my fingers on the keyboard to read his message and text him back.

_Haven’t talked to you much today. I miss you. How are you? How was girls’ night?_ His admission made me giggle because it had literally been a day but I missed him too.

_Work was stressful today but it was so good to see my friends! I love them._ This morning I had three different meetings. One was a staff meeting to decide how we are going to continue distance learning because the way that we have it now isn’t working. I also had a meeting to discuss plans for students that haven’t been doing well during this weird time. The last meeting was a team meeting which was nice. We decided that we are going to put out fun weekly videos for the kids. I was going to do “Wacky Wednesdays” where I would do crazy at home science experiments.

_You in bed already? Can I call you?_ I smiled. Chris loved talking on the phone much more than he liked texting. He said that texting was for making plans and brief catch ups, not having conversations. I hadn’t thought of that before. I was much more of a texter, but I could never deny myself listening to his soothing voice, especially before bed.

_I’m in bed already but wouldn’t mind a call._ I added an emoji with a small smile to the end of the text and as soon as I pressed send, my phone was ringing. I propped my pillow up against my headboard so I could lean on it and swiped across my phone to answer it.

“Hey beautiful,” I heard Chris’s musical voice breath through the phone.

“Hi dork,” I smiled. Wow. Ashlee was right. Definitely right out of a romcom. The cheesiest of romcoms there was. “How was your day?” I ran my fingers through my damp hair and then rested my hand on my lap, picking at my comforter. A motion I seemed to make absentmindedly, a lot.

“It was good.” I could tell he was nodding through the phone and it made me think about how much I already knew him and we had been together less than a month. Every time I was with him, I was attune to his body and now it seems that even when I wasn’t with him, I was aware of him. “I had a few interviews that went well. And Mark and I made some great headway on the site. It’s looking like a July release is a go.”

My chest filled with pride for my boyfriend. He had so many incredible projects he was working on, each one better than the last. “That’s incredible!”

“We’ve had a meeting with some tech guys and a web designer and the mockup of the sites look incredible. I’m excited.”

As he continued to talk about the website, my mind drifted off to what he was doing as he was talking on the phone with me. Was he laying on his bed, ankles crossed in his white t-shirt that was a little too small for him and grey sweatpants? Was Dodger at his side with his hands ruffling through his fur? Even when he wasn’t with me, I couldn’t get enough of this man.

Listening to him talk about his website created a thought that wedged into my brain. “Would you ever consider running for something?”

“You mean some kind of office?” I hummed a yes in response as he continued. “I.. ah, I don’t know. It seems like a lot of work, honestly,” he chuckled which made me laugh in response.

“Well I think you’d be great at it.” Another thought occurred to me. Seeing Chris always in a suit and having power, making the world better for those that lived in it. “Kind of a sexy thought,” I mumbled before I even knew what I was saying.

“I’m sorry, what?” he laughed. I could see him right now. His head was probably thrown back and his arm was clutching his left pec while he laughed. It caused the heat to climb up my neck a bit because while I hadn’t intended him to, he heard my comment. “Well baby, if me being a politician turns you on then never say never.”

Now it was my turn to laugh and I rolled my eyes at him. “Oh shut up.” I paused for a moment. “I mean, you do look good in a suit.”

“When have you seen me in a suit?” He asked and I could hear a hint of amusement in his voice. I bit on my thumb nail in response and he called my name when I hadn’t said anything. “Emily?”

“Oh shut up. There’s like hundreds of thousands of pictures of you on google.” Yeah, I’d googled him. I really didn’t want to, but I got curious what would come up. And then I got lost in all the pictures that showed up. Especially when I saw the pictures for a movie he had done for _The Red Sea Diving Resort_. Long haired, scruffy Chris did something to my lady parts.

“So what you’re saying is you can look up pictures of me at any time. Now that doesn’t seem fair seeing as I can’t google you.”

I laughed, “Nope. You can’t. Sorry loverboy.” 

“Now I think there’s something we should do about that.” His voice was low and a bit raspy which made me tingle. A small smile spread on my face because now I was even more excited for the photoshoot I was doing for him. I’d have to get it done tomorrow cause he was leaving on Thursday to head to California to meet Scott and help him move.

“Grow back the long hair from that movie you were in and we’ll talk.” I nervously brought up my shirt to cover my mouth, like I hadn’t believed that I just said that but I definitely did. Chris was making me more and more confident as the days went by. And when he flirted, it only made me want to flirt back.

“Oh, that’s what you like? Huh, baby girl?” I pulled my top lip between my teeth and bit back a growl. Now that he knows how much that name affects me, he can’t stop using it and it drives me crazy.

“Shut up. No. I hate you.” We both started laughing at how untrue that sentence was. When our laughter died down, we sat in silence for a moment. I could hear him breathing on the other line which was comforting to me. I loved his company even when we weren’t talking with each other.

“Are we still on for Wednesday?” Chris asked after a few moments. Since he was leaving Thursday morning for California, we’re having a date night on Wednesday at my house. Even though I’ll be working for some of the day, he agreed to help me film my video for school and stay the night so we could be together before his departure.

“Yes! I think I have an idea for my experiment!” I had found a very cool experiment online where you fill a plastic bag full of water and poke pencils through the bags. Because the pencil fills up the hole that it made, the bag doesn’t leak. I thought that would be a fun first video for my students to watch and although it may be messy, an easy one for them to do at home.

He laughed at my excitement and said, “You’re so adorable, my nerdy girl.” I’d never had anyone say that to me before and I was totally okay with the sentiment. I’d be his nerdy girl anytime. I yawned and Chris heard it saying, “It’s 9:30! Long day?” through a laugh.

“Yeah. I had like three meetings this morning and I’m getting really bad headaches looking at the computer screen all day.”

“Well, why don’t I let you go so you can get some sleep,” Chris said and another yawn unleashed itself which made us both laugh again.

“Yeah, I probably should.” I moved my pillow down so that I could fully rest my head on it and pulled my comforter up over my shoulders, but still kept my phone pressed against my ear.

“Goodnight, baby girl.”

“Goodnight, Cap.”

After ending the call with a smile on my face, I set my phone on the charger and turned over to my side and fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I yawned and leaned over to shut my alarm off. I looked over at Max who looked up at me and then put his head back down, closing his eyes. “Morning Maxy!” I yelled at him but he didn’t move. I threw my covers off and made my way to the kitchen.

My day was much less stressful than yesterday and for that I was thankful. Unfortunately none of my students came to my office hours, no matter how many reminders I put on Google Classroom. That was a little discouraging, but other than that I had a pretty good and uneventful day. I spent a lot of the day grading and creating the worksheet for next week.

I even had some time today that I could start to look at our next unit and change it into virtual materials. At our meeting yesterday, the principal said that we would be able to start posting and teaching new material soon. They had to make sure that all students had a reliable computer and stable internet connection before they could require remote learning. I knew that this was coming and was really hopeful that it was a step forward in all this mess.

After working for the day, I was exhausted and took a nap on the couch. I hadn’t meant to take a nap, but the second I turned the tv on to Chopped, I was out like a light.

I woke up to Max whining and ringing his bell indicating to me that he had to go out. I was usually a heavy sleeper so I was surprised I woke to it, but I also wasn’t the kind of person to take naps. I was _that_ exhausted. “Sorry Maxy, let’s go.”

I got up and stretched my arms out before getting up and slipping my crocs on. I tied Max up to his leash before slipping out the front door so that he could do his business. We got back inside in record time and as soon as I let him off his leash, he went over to his bowl and waited there. “Oh, I _know_. Chill out boy.”

I grabbed his bowl and he watched with excitement. I looked at the clock on the stove and saw that it was 6:13. It was a little later than usual for Max to be eating, another reason why I usually didn’t take naps. 

I put his bowl down and as he started eating, I grabbed his water bowl so that I could refill it. When that was done, I opened the fridge to look and see what I was going to have for dinner tonight. When nothing in the fridge looked appetizing, I moved to the freezer and found some chicken fingers. I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed those out, turning the package over to see what to preheat the oven to.

After eating dinner and watching a few episodes of _The Office_ , I found myself sitting on my bed staring at the small piece of lingerie. I immediately regretted waiting until now to take these photos. I should have done it in the morning when I wouldn’t be bloated from eating. There’s definite truth to that “morning skinny.”

I picked up the green lace and ran it through my fingers. I took a deep breath and pushed myself off the mattress. I made my way into the bathroom so I could take a shower. I turned on the faucet, then stripped off my clothes and got under the water.

As I made sure that every last inch of me was shaved, I thought about this sexy photoshoot. My body tingled as I thought about Chris’s reaction. I knew that it was going to be positive, but my pulse was racing because I wasn’t exactly sure _what_ his reaction would be.

When I was finished, I turned off the water and jumped out of the shower. I grabbed the towel to dry off and wrapped it around my body before going into my room. Before I left the bathroom, I grabbed some lotion because I thought it would make my body smooth and shine in the pictures.

After drying my hair, I sat at my desk and looked at myself in the mirror. I was dragging this out longer than it needed to be. I was going to take those pictures and I was going to look damn good in them.

I unwrapped the towel and picked up the lace bodysuit laughing once again at how small the fabric was. I stepped into the bodysuit and pulled the fabric up my legs. The top was a halter top, so it was easy to pull the straps up and tie it around my neck. Wow, this actually fit. I was surprised, seeing at how small it was in the package. 

I straightened out the lace and then looked at myself in the mirror and gasped. Holy shit. I look good in this. The color against my skin looked spectacular. It was a deep, hunter green and because it was so dark the lace cutouts made my skin look luminous. The halter pushed my boobs up a bit which made them look much larger than they were. The deep v neckline opened all the way to just above my navel. I squealed at how good I looked in this.

I sat back down at my desk and decided to go all out and curl my hair. My legs were bouncing the entire time, trying to think of different poses that I could do. 

When I finally got onto my bed with my phone in hand, my fingers started to tremble a bit. I pushed away those thoughts and reminded myself how good I look which gave me the confidence to continue. 

Now to figure out how to take pictures of myself with just my phone. I was reduced to using my desk chair and piling a tall stack of books on it. I then propped up my phone with my pillow. I turned on the front facing camera and although the phone was placed pretty far away I could at least see that my body was in the frame.

I kneeled on the bed with my legs spread out. I threw my hair over my shoulder and looked at the camera. I cursed myself because I needed to put on the self timer otherwise no picture was going to be taken. I got up off my bed and when I was ready, put the ten second timer on. I scrambled to get back onto my bed into the position I was in before.

I took several more photos this way. I tried arching my back, crossing my legs and even standing for one but I did not like how that came out. One of my favorites was when I wasn’t fully ready for the timer but I laughed in the middle of it and I looked incredibly happy in the photo.

Then I moved my makeshift tripod to the end of my bed and laid on my stomach. Again I pressed the self timer on my phone and scrambled to get into position. My hair fell around my face in a curtain and I looked up sultrily at the camera. I gave myself a few more options in this same position and then tried to lay on my bed and take photos from above.

That proved to be very difficult because my arm could only stretch so much. I got the interesting idea of doing a series of photos from above, each traveling further down my body. After figuring out how to take those photos, I sat on my bed and looked through my phone.

Wow, I looked incredible. My smile could not get any wider. I swiped through the pictures on my phone and decided on my favorites. There were seven of them.

I had a small printer that printed the photos from my phone which I plugged in and put on my desk. I connected my phone to it and printed out my photos. I squealed again when I saw them printed. I don’t think I’ll ever take this bodysuit off. 

And I didn’t take the bodysuit off. After printing my photos, I put on some music and danced around in my room in the bodysuit a bit more. It was amazing, feeling this good in my own skin.

I was riding that high the next day when Chris came over. “Hi,” he said when I opened the door for him. It was about 10:00 in the morning and I had just finished grading my student’s previous assignment and sent out another plethora of emails to those that haven’t done any work.

He dipped his head to kiss me and I pushed up against his kiss with a smile. His lips were soft against mine and one kiss wasn’t enough so I pressed my lips against his again. When we departed, he leaned down to let Dodger off the leash. Chris was taking Dodger with him to California and I’m not sure who I was going to miss more.

“Hi Dodgey.” I bent down to him and scratched behind both of his ears. “Me and Maxy missed you, boy!” He took this opportunity to lick my entire face, from chin to forehead. “Oh, Max,” I laughed and tried to get away from him. I think he took this as a challenge because he jumped up, but since I was kneeling at his level he just ended up knocking me over. “Dodger!” I laughed as he continued his attack on my face.

“Dodge, c’mon.” Chris reached over and pulled his pup off me. “Only I can do that.”

I got up off the ground and looked at him with my finger wagging in his face, “Hey. I’m still working, sir. So you better keep it PG.” He bit down gently on my finger which made me yell his name in response and just caused him to laugh.

I walked back towards the couch and flopped down into my previous spot. “Okay, so you’re going to help record my video right?”

He nodded as he sat down next to me on the couch. “Of course.” I brought my laptop back to my lap so that I could bring up my script that I wrote. I wasn’t sure how good I would do off the cuff so I wanted to make sure I had something to fall back on. 

Once I had everything set up on my island, I gave Chris my phone so that he could film my video. “Everyone’s gonna be so jealous, I got a big time Hollywood director to film my video for me,” I teased as he held the phone horizontally and brought it up to begin filming. “Sorry that I don’t have multiple cameras for different angles.”

“Do you want my help?” Chris lowered the camera and smiled at me.

“Yes, sir. So sorry.”

Chris looked at me confused. “What’s with all the ‘sirs’ today?” I hadn’t realized it but that was the second time I called him sir since he entered my house. He shook his head, “Can’t say I don’t like it.” He winked at me with a smirk on his face.

My mouth dropped open as he laughed and brought the phone back up to film. “Well don’t film me after saying that!” I shrieked. I swatted at the air while Chris just laughed. “Okay, can we do this?”

“Alright.” He tried to calm his laughter. When I nodded I saw him touch the phone to begin recording.

“Hello everyone and welcome to Wacky Wednesdays with Ms. Barrett where every Wednesday we are going to do a wacky science experiment!” I looked up at Chris who was smiling, but looking at me through the phone. “Why are you smiling like that?” I said to him.

He looked into my eyes over the phone with the smile still plastered on his face. “You’re so fucking cute.”

“Chris,” I laughed. “I have to post this today and I’m never going to if you don’t help me!” I scolded him but was still smiling at his comment.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, I’ll be good.”

“Thank you.”

It took us an hour and a half to get through the four minute video. I didn’t want to do any editing so I just wanted to get it in one take and that wasn’t really possible when Chris kept making me laugh.

It was a bit later, about 1:00 now and Chris and I were sitting on opposite ends of my couch. I was uploading my video to Google Classroom and sending it in an email to the students. I hoped at least they learned something and had fun watching me be silly.

While I was doing my work, Chris was on the other side of my couch reading a script. He brought a few over to read while I was working today. In the middle of sending an email, Chris nudged my foot with his. I looked over at him and he was looking down at the script.

I went back to typing my email when his foot nudged against me again. “Can I help you?” I looked over to him and he just raised his eyebrows when he looked back at me. I looked down to his feet and back up to his face. “Can I help you?” I repeated.

When he didn’t say anything I went back to working and when I saw his foot moving towards me again, I intercepted it by pushing it away from me. “Are you done now?”

“You don’t wanna play footsies?” He asked innocently which made me chuckle. Who was this man and who replaced him with a five year old?

“Not particularly. I’m trying to send an email.” I motioned towards my laptop and he let out a big sigh, throwing his head on the back of the couch. “I’ll give you attention at 2, okay?”

I looked over at him and he pouted. This man actually pouted. It just made me burst into laughter and throw my head back. I turned my attention back to my computer and continued sending my email, shaking my head at him.

When the clock finally struck 2, I closed my laptop and set it on the coffee table and then I looked over at Chris. He was playing around on his phone but didn’t look at me. I looked over to our dogs. Dodger and Max were lying next to each other on the ground. Max was in his bed and Dodger was just off to the side with his nose on Max’s bed.

I smiled mischievously as I got an idea. He wanted attention, well he was gonna get it. I stood up and stretched because I was sitting down with my computer in my lap all day and then made my way over to him. I sat down on his lap with my legs thrown over his left side and ran one of my hands through his beard. He raised his eyebrows and smirked when I did. He locked his phone and threw it on the couch next to him.

“I told you I’d give you attention at 2.” I smiled. My hand caressed his face and I trailed my thumb across it. “Well guess what time it is?” I suggestively wiggled my eyebrows at him.

His hands went to my waist and dug into the flesh there. He slightly pulled my shirt up so that he could have direct contact with my skin which created goosebumps wherever he touched.

He brought his mouth as close to mine as he could without making any contact and my mouth watered in anticipation. When I licked my lips his eyes drifted down towards my mouth and back up to me with a smile on his face.

I couldn’t tell who moved first but the next thing I knew our mouths were colliding. What first started as a soft kiss turned into tongues tied together. The minute his tongue entered my mouth, I could feel the wetness growing between my legs. I tangled one of my hands into his hair to keep him plastered against my mouth. To be honest, at this moment I was perfectly content with an incredibly hot make out session.

One of Chris’s hands trailed down my side and he began rubbing my leg. His other hand was still situated at my waist, teasing the skin there. I had never been turned on by the size of a man’s hands but I think every part of Chris turned me on. His hands were much larger than my own and could fit a good amount of my flesh within them. They were also calloused which felt incredible against my soft skin.

Our kisses slowed down but we continued to sit on the couch and make out with each other. It was unhurried and sensual and because of how I was sitting I could feel his erection growing underneath me. I smiled at how neither one of us rushed and made a move to the bedroom although I was sure that’s where this was going. I certainly hoped that’s where this was going.

His hand continued to run up and down my leg, occasionally making its way to my ass and grabbing a handful. When he did it caused me to arch my back and grind down into his lap and made him moan. 

After a few more tantalizing moments, my body felt like it was on fire and I was growing hot in the small area. I reached down to pull my shirt off. When Chris figured out what I was doing, he helped me slide the shirt over my head. After throwing it somewhere behind us, our mouths were glued back together. 

The hand that was alternating between my leg and my backside attached itself to the back of my head. He then took the opportunity to pull away from me and attach his mouth to my neck. He nipped and sucked on my neck causing me to moan and once again grind my hips against him.

He was fabulously hard against me which turned up the heat of my arousal as well. He licked his way from my chest all the way up my neck and I arched my back to get closer to him and silently ask for him to do it again.

I dragged my hands down his torso and then slid them underneath his t-shirt. His mouth released my neck for a millisecond so that I could slip his t-shirt off and then immediately replaced themselves on my neck.

He licked his way across my collar bones and while it was wonderful, I wanted to taste his mouth again. I grabbed him by the head and pressed my lips against his again. While our tongues intertwined, he used one hand to grab my boob. Even though my bra was separating his hand from my flesh, it still felt wonderful. I arched my back again while I separated us for a moment to catch my breath.

As fast as I separated us, Chris reattached our mouths and also stood up from the couch with me in his arms. He was carrying me bridal style because of the way I was sitting on his lap. I made sure to wrap my arms around his neck so that I wouldn’t fall. Surprisingly our mouths stayed attached while he walked us down the hall and into my bedroom. I was still wrapped around him when he closed the door and the only time we parted was when he threw me down on the bed.

For the first time since we started I looked into his eyes as he laid his body down on top of mine. His eyes were black with lust and sent shock waves up my spine and back down between my legs.

I loved when Chris laid his body down on mine. He put just enough pressure on me and connected us between the legs which let me feel how much he wanted me. I still couldn’t believe how much he wanted me but I was glad it reciprocated my feelings.

After a while in this position, I flipped us so that I was straddling his waist while he was propped up against my headboard. Our kissing accelerated while our moans became louder and more frequent.

Chris hooked his thumbs on either side of my waistband and threw my pants off my legs. I was glad that I had matched my underwear since I knew he was coming over. He took a minute to admire me with a cute smirk on his face. I made a move to kiss him again but he grabbed my wrists so he could continue to admire me.

“So fucking beautiful,” he said while looking into my eyes. I wanted to look away but I could see the raw emotion in his eyes. He truly believed I was beautiful.

He appreciated what he was seeing for a few more minutes and then grabbed my chin with his hand and drew our mouths back together. We continued to quicken our movements so much so that when he brought down his hand to strike my ass, I hadn’t known what happened at first.

I felt a tingle that shot directly to my core and pulled myself away to look at him. “Did you just…” I trailed off, wondering if he even knew what happened.

A look of regret immediately made its way to his face. “Shit, Em. I’m sorry. It was just in the moment and I--” He was dragging his hands down his face but stopped when I smiled at him.

I brought my mouth up next to his ear and in a breathy voice said, “Do it again.”

I bit my lip and looked back at him to gauge his reaction which looked confused, shocked and excited all at once. “Are you sure?”

I nodded and kissed him once more before reassuring him by asking, “Please?”

He slapped me again, a bit harder this time, eliciting a moan from my lips which he captured with his mouth. After another smack against my ass and a moan dropped from his lips this time, he moved his hands up to my bra and unhooked it, letting it fall from my body. After slipping my arms from the straps, he threw it on the floor and ran his thumbs over my hardening nipples.

Chris captured my breast in his mouth and tortured my nipple by sucking on it and dragging it between his teeth. “Chris,” I moaned. My eyes were closed and I think they were rolling into the back of my head.

I flipped us over again so that I could remove his pants because I was so turned on there was only one thing I wanted at this moment. I unbuckled his jeans and slid them down his legs, taking his boxers with them. My mouth watered when his dick popped out and it was standing at attention, waiting for me. I ran my hand down it once and Chris moaned in response.

He kissed his way down my body, paying extra attention to my nipples when he passed them. He then placed a kiss on my belly button and then just above my mound. He then parted my legs and licked my clit causing a yelp to escape from my mouth. He tugged on it with his teeth making me squirm in response.

He plunged a finger into me and I think I screamed but every part of my body was so turned on that I can’t even remember. “Chris, Chris, oh my god.” My breathing had become labored and I just wanted to feel him inside me. “Chris please, get inside me.”

He stopped licking me but kept his fingers going, pushing another one inside me. After a few more pumps, he removed his fingers and came up to give me a memorable kiss where I could taste myself on his mouth. 

He reached over to my bedside table and grabbed a condom from the drawer. He ripped the package open with his teeth and then slid it down his shaft. He grabbed himself and lined it up with me, diving deep into my warmth and making me moan as he filled me.

Chris thrust his hips slowly and sensually as I moaned at each of his movements. His movements became faster and I could feel that familiar sensation boiling in my stomach. 

“Chris…” I trailed off and then made a noise that was incomprehensible. I no longer had control over my body because of the sensation he was giving me. He was swirling his hips around and then pulling out and diving back in. My hands grabbed the sheets and then I dug my nails into his ass so hard that I’m sure I left a mark.

My breathing became high pitched as my orgasm built with his faster thrusts. He continued to drive into me as I exploded, curling my toes and arching my back off the mattress, screaming out his name. Chris gave a few more thrusts and then moaned, coming undone as well. He thrust a few more times, riding out our orgasms together and then collapsed on top of me.

With a sheen of sweat covering both of us and breathing heavy, I still looked over at him and smiled. “Shit,” I laughed. That was absolutely incredible. I could feel my body twitching in response but I was spent.

Chris leaned over and pulled me closer to him, leaving a kiss at my hairline. Although it was only two in the afternoon, we soon fell asleep cuddled together in each other’s arms.

I woke up only a few hours later, still in Chris’s arms. I looked up at him and he was still asleep. His beautiful eyelashes that were kissing his cheekbones made me smile. Everything about him made me smile.

I unwrapped myself from his arms and got up off the bed. I went to my closet and grabbed a big t-shirt and some leggings to wear so that I could check on the dogs.

“Hey boys,” I announced my entrance into the living room to them and immediately laughed. They were still in the same spot that Chris and I had left them. “Anyone have to go potty?” Max lifted his head and then put it back down, while Dodger remained where he was. I waited a moment to make sure they were still breathing. Yes, they were just lazy dogs content with one another.

I walked over to the couch and picked up our discarded shirts and brought them back to the bedroom, laying Chris’s at the end of the bed. I wandered into the kitchen to start making dinner for us. I had used Instacart to get the ingredients delivered to my door so I didn’t have to go out to the grocery store. I bought everything for one pot chicken alfredo. The one pot was so that I didn’t get a million dishes dirty and the chicken alfredo seemed easy enough that even I couldn’t mess it up.

When I was just about done with dinner and mixing all the ingredients together, I heard Chris’s footsteps leaving my bedroom and then the bathroom door shutting. I grabbed two plates from the top cabinet and put them down on the island.

“Alright, Ms. I-can’t-cook-anything,” Chris teased as he walked into the room. He grabbed me by my shoulders and placed a kiss on the top of my head. I loved that he was much taller than me because he was able to do that. Chris took a deep inhale of the dinner that I was currently putting on the counter and hummed in response. “It smells so good.”

“Well it’s really easy to follow a recipe,” I laughed and picked up my plate and started spooning some of the chicken alfredo onto my plate. After I finished and sat down, Chris did the same. I was surprised at how good this actually tasted, but especially how easy it was to make. The blog that I found the recipe on had detailed step by step instructions and while I wasn’t a great cook, I could easily follow directions.

“Oh baby, so good!” Chris playfully pounded his fist in the air and took another forkful of the food. I laughed at him and continued eating my own dinner.

Later that night, Chris and I were cuddled on the couch with the dogs on the other end. Each of us were reading, him a script and me, my latest kindle book. From the way I was sitting, I was starting to get a pain at the top of my neck. I had recently gotten this sharp pain there and I’m sure it was from all the sitting with my back crouched at the computer.

I sat up a little and moved away from Chris so I could roll my shoulders. Usually when I did this my back would crack and start to feel better. “You okay?” Chris looked over at me.

“Yeah,” I sighed and rolled my shoulders again. “My shoulders and back are just hurting a bit.” I sat up on the couch and tried to twist my back hoping that it would help the pain a little bit. When I twisted the other way towards Chris, his brows were furrowed and seemed like he was thinking about something. He quickly got up off the couch and left the room after putting his pointer finger out towards me as if telling me to wait a minute.

I laughed in confusion and looked over at the dogs because I had no idea what he was doing. I decided to just go back to reading my book, this time in a sitting up position to help with the pain but also so that I could cuddle back up next to Chris when he came back.

After about ten minutes I looked over at the dogs again, wondering where Chris had gone. “Chris?” I called. “Everything okay?” It sounded like he was moving things around in the bathroom and I heard the faucet go on for a minute.

“Just a second!” He called back.

I looked back over to the dogs and laughed. “Your dad’s crazy.” Immediately after saying that, I realized what I said. “I mean, Dodger. Dodger, your dad’s crazy.” No one was there to hear the slip from my lips and it wasn’t even that big of a deal but for some reason I felt the need to correct myself.

Chris then walked back into the living room and put his hand out towards me. “What are you doing?” I questioned him and looked at his hand skeptically. He just laughed and put his hand out towards me again. I put my kindle down on the coffee table and grabbed his hand. He pulled me up from the couch and led me down the hall.

He continued holding my hand and led me into the bathroom. When I got into the room, I saw that he had filled the bathtub up, put one of my bath bombs in the water and even lit a candle that I had in the bathroom. A smile spread across my face as I looked over to my thoughtful boyfriend.

“I know you’ve been stressed and with your back pain, I thought this could help.” I immediately wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed myself against him. I looked up at him and puckered my lips. He leaned down to kiss me.

“Thank you,” I gave him another kiss and looked back to the bath. “You’re gonna join me though, right?” I looked at him and started to discard myself of my leggings.

I laughed at the boyish grin that crept across his face. “Well I didn’t wanna assume…” He trailed off, watching me take off my clothes.

“Well you better hurry up before I change my mind.” I threw off my shirt and made my way towards the bath. Before I could get one of my legs into the water, Chris was already behind me and had shed himself of all his clothes. He got into the bath first and then I did, leaning myself against him.

I sat down between his legs and he moved his hands up to massage my shoulders. I closed my eyes and relished the feeling of his touch and his skilled hands digging themselves into a knot in my shoulder. “Thank you,” I whispered.

After a few more minutes of massaging my shoulders, he ran his hands up and down my arms and brought me back to lay against him. He continued the pattern of dragging his fingers up and down my arms and for a few moments all I could hear was the splashing of the water and Chris’s breathing in my ear.

The longer we were in the bath together, the more I thought about how I didn’t want him to leave. And the more I thought about that, the more I chastised myself for even thinking about it. Chris and I had known each other for a month and had been dating for less, and I was already feeling attached to him. And he wasn’t even going to be gone for a long time. He made it easy to be confident in myself. He made it easy to want to tell him everything. He made me laugh and dried my tears. The more that I thought about this, my breathing picked up a bit and I knew that Chris could sense a change in me. Which then scared me further and created a tinny taste in my mouth.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” I heard Chris say and he pressed a kiss against my neck.

He waited for me to be ready to tell him, something he frequently did when I was trying to work through the thoughts going on in my head. It took me a few minutes but I finally got there. “It’s pretty stupid,” I laughed.

Chris gathered my hair and swept it to one side of my neck. He grabbed my left hand and brought it to his mouth to kiss. I know what he was going to say at this point that I could have said it with him. “Whatever you’re feeling is not stupid.”

I rolled my eyes. I was right. “I know. But we’ve only known each other for a month so it feels stupid.”

“What’s up?” He placed another kiss to the side of my neck and I’m sure that his brows were pushed together in confusion.

I sighed. “I don’t want you to go.” I was somewhat glad that I couldn’t see him because it made telling him easier. “And like I said that’s stupid cause we haven’t even known each other for that long and you won’t be gone for that long-” I started my usual word vomit when I got scared or embarrassed and Chris cut me off with a laugh.

“You know that’s not stupid right, Em? I don’t want to go either. I struggled for a long time asking if you'd want to come with me.” That caught me off guard. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that he would have wanted me to come with him. I hadn’t even thought that was an option.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” I could feel him nodding his head. “But I know you have work and with the pandemic I didn’t want to put you at risk.”

“Oh,” I said and felt my heart beating. He had thought about taking me with him but knew that I needed to be here so that I could work and not be exposed to people.

“You know how I know what you’re feeling isn’t stupid?”

“How?” We were quiet for a while and then I felt both of Chris’s hands on my shoulders. He pushed lightly against them so that he could turn me around so I was facing him. It was hard to do in my small tub, but I turned so that I was facing him. I put my hands on either side of the tub because I wasn’t sure where else to put them and looked up at him.

“When we’re together it feels like we’ve known each other forever. You’re my best friend already. Whenever I get some type of news- good or bad- you’re the first person I want to tell. I know it’s not stupid cause I feel the same way.”

“Oh,” I said again and looked away from him. Chris grabbed my chin and pulled me towards him so that he could kiss me.

Chris pulled me up out of the water so that I was standing. He then pulled the plug to the bath and put the shower on so that we could wash ourselves. We took turns soaping and washing each other. Chris shampooed my hair and his fingers felt wonderful in them. We didn’t say a word to each other as we finished. He then stepped out of the bath and grabbed a towel, handing it to me.

After we were dry, Chris leaned down and captured my mouth in a kiss. We stood there tangled in each other for a few minutes before Chris picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. He laid me down on the bed, laying down next to me and grabbed my face to continue what we started in the bathroom.

Although we were both already naked, there were no wandering hands for several minutes. When we started to progress further, this time felt unlike any other. Chris was soft and sensual and took his time bringing me to the brink with his mouth before pushing himself into me. We continued kissing the entire time. Our mouths never left each other, even after when we were finished and he pulled out of me.

We finally pulled apart when we heard the dogs whining outside the door. Even then, we just pulled away from each other and looked at each other for a few moments. The dogs started whining again and I laughed. “We should probably take them out.” Chris gave me another kiss and then the dogs whined again and this time he was the one to laugh. Chris got up and I admired his ass while he walked towards the door. He went to the bathroom and grabbed his clothes and then went to the living room where the dogs were.

“Wanna go out boys?” I heard him say and smiled. The door opened and closed and I made my way to the bathroom to gather up my clothes. I went to the living room and grabbed my phone, placing it on the charger next to my bed. I laid back down and heard the front door open and then heard the dogs making their way into the room.

Dodger and Max both jumped onto the bed and made themselves comfy in their spot at the bottom. Chris came back and removed his shirt before climbing into bed next to me.

I cuddled up next to him so that I was the little spoon. “You know why leaving tomorrow is going to be okay?” I said, continuing our conversation from before. Instead of saying anything back to me, he nuzzled against my hair and pressed a kiss against my ear. “Cause I know you’re gonna come back.”

“Oh baby, I’ll always come back.” Letting a smile overtake my face, I hoped that would always be true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made this chapter extra long cause it's been a while. Me and my entire family got COVID and it's been a hard time. Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I'm on February vacation this week and I've already got half of the next chapter written so hopefully I'll be posting before the weeks end. As always, love you guys for the comments and kudos. While it sometimes takes me a while, I love writing this story.


End file.
